PSC, stakeholders to meet on school sports later this month

IN line with the government’s thrust to make “sports accessible to all,” particularly the youth, the Philippine Sports Commission ( PSC) will hold the National Consultative Meeting for Collegiate Sports later this month.

Designed to build on the initiatives already put in place by the commission under the leadership of now Chairman William I. Ramirez, the two-day gathering from Oct. 17 to 18 at the Philsports Multipurpose Arena in Pasig City will gather stakeholders of collegiate sports to tackle a list of issues and developments.

“From the very beginning our direction was clear. Ever since I went back to the PSC, we pursued our mandate to develop sports at the grassroots level. We dove right in to where interest in sports starts -the family, the community and the school,” said Mr. Ramirez, who is in his second tenure as the head of the PSC, in a statement shared to members of the media.

“Make sports accessible to all, involve our youth in sports,” he added, referring to the marching orders he got from President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Presidential Adviser for Sports Dennis Uy, Congressman Conrado Estrella, Congressman Mark Zambar and Congressman Monsour del Rosario of the Committee on Youth and Sports have been invited and are expected to attend the meeting with the end view of helping fortify sports at the collegiate level.

Senator Sonny Angara will be the keynote speaker.

In the lead-up to the consultative meeting, a spate of consultations was done by the PSC last year with different groups, among them athletic associations in colleges and universities.

“We should not stop asking where and how we could help. We should follow through,” said Mr. Ramirez as he underscored the value of the about-tohappen meeting.

The National Consultative Meeting for Collegiate Sports is expected to see representatives from around 140 schools, colleges, universities and athletic associations.

Since taking office anew last year, Mr. Ramirez and the PSC have initiated a number of projects, like the Children’s Games, Indigenous Games and the reactivation of the Philippine Sports Institute, to bolster the sports development thrust of the present administration. —