MANILA, Philippines – Amid growing clamor on social media to “defund” basketball and support other sports that delivered in the Olympics, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) believes that the government and private sponsors should find a right balance in supporting other national athletes.
“Basketball still is, our favorite sport, but the funding from basketball is not really coming from government…these are all from private corporations,” said PSC chairman Richard Bachmann, during the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Thursday, August 22.
“But if the government and private corporations can find a balance and realize that they can actually compete internationally in other sports, we just have to find a balance,” added Bachmann, who himself was a former PBA player.
With Philippine sports at its peak as the country celebrates its all-time best Olympic campaign — two golds from gymnast Carlos Yulo and a bronze each from boxers Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas — Bachmann said it’s the best time to promote other sports.
“With this happening, we winning in gymnastics, it’s basically creating awareness that we also have a lot of sports that can actually win medals for us,” said Bachmann.
“Most of the people only want to see basketball and volleyball. But by winning in international competitions like the Olympics for gymnastics, for boxing, it gives you a little awareness that, you know, a lot of kids can actually support other sports and become a national athlete,” he added.
The country has also enjoyed three straight Olympic Games with a medal, including weightlifting star Hidilyn Diaz’s breakthrough gold in the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Bachmann said the PSC’s primary role is to fund all national sports associations, with a chunk of the budget the past year allocated to the training of athletes who vied for Paris Olympics spots.
The PSC said a total of P158.2 million was spent on Olympic preparation, with P58.9 million courtesy of the National Sports Development Fund from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).
But the private sector has supported other sports as well, like business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan, who has funded artistic gymnastics, weightlifting, and boxing — the trifecta of Olympic medal haul earners.
Pangilinan has also mainly bankrolled the Gilas Pilipinas basketball program along with billionaire Ramon S. Ang, both of whom own half of the PBA’s 12 teams.
Bachmann noted the importance of a grassroots development budget, hopeful that the government will allocate “five or six” times more next year.
The PSC chief said foreign coaches have helped the Olympians, and they may be tapped to help other local talents and mentors as well.
“We’re making amendments to [the foreign coaches’] contract, that if you… have a contract with PSC as a foreign coach, you are supposed to spend how many hours to actually help out PSC in the grassroots,” said Bachmann.
Other plans, he said, are the current legislative agenda that aims to institutionalize the Philippine National Games, Batang Pinoy, and other competitions, which, if approved, will receive direct funding from the government. – Rappler.com
