Department of Sports by ’19?
Two committees of the House of Representatives are taking the first concrete steps towards the realization of a Department of Sports, hopefully by 2019. This will be a welcome relief to the millions who are frustrated with the consistent deterioration of Philippine team performances in international competitions. The current dichotomy between the Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee has hindered growth in many areas where Filipinos could rule various sports at a global level. Although the PSC has been baring its teeth and using its long-neglected visitorial and supervisory powers, it is still not enough. With the rank only of an undersecretary under the Office of the President, the PSC chairman does not get to sit at the big table during weekly Cabinet meetings. Moreover, as shown by the misinterpretation of the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) law for 24 years, the agency’s budget can be influenced by outside forces. Consistency of its programs cannot be guaranteed.
House Bill 65, authored by Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles (1st District, Davao City) and PBA Party-list Reps. Jericho Jonas Nograles and Mark Aaron Sambar; HB 287 by 1-PACMAN PartyList Rep. and outgoing PBA Chairman Michael Romero; and HB 3633 by former broadcaster Rep. Cristina Roa-Puno (1st District, Antipolo City) are all aimed towards creating a Department of Sports. The combined committees on youth and sports development and government reorganization have decided to form a technical working group to consolidate the best components of the proposed bills. At one point, there were no less than 11 different draft legislations in both houses, each with a different spin on how the government should run sports in the country. There are many areas for growth: grassroots sports development, talent identification, establishment of regional training centers for various sports, sports management training, exchange programs with sports institutes abroad, and more. A Department of Sports would have the clout to bring all those to fruition.
The current bills would therefore abolish the existing Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) which was established in 1990, and assume that agency’s powers, functions, assets, and properties with more muscle behind it. At a large consultative gathering of sports stakeholders organized by PSC chair Butch Ramirez late last year, a large contingent of congressmen in sports and Sen. Manny Pacquiao attended, showing their support for the initiative for change. Rep. Conrado Estrella III, who chairs the committee on youth and sports development, guaranteed the creation of the Department of Sports within their three-year term. It has been almost two decades since the first attempts at creating the department fell on deaf ears in the Lower House. But this batch of young legislators, many of them first-termers, appear determined to make their mark on Philippine sports history.
For once, the great majority of the lawmakers involved are or have been directly involved in sports. Romero has built champion teams in amateur basketball and polo and has headed two national sports associations; Nograles and Sambar represent the concerns of athletes; Roa-Puno was a sports broadcaster and succeeded her husband, Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas vice-chairman Robbie Puno; Rep. Manny Lopez (1st District, Manila) ran the country’s boxing program; Rep. Monsour del Rosario was an Olympian in taekwondo; Rep. Prospero Pichay (1st District, Surigao del Sur) has been at the head of Philippine chess; Rep. Rogelio Pacquiao succeeded his brother as representative of Sarangani. Most of these lawmakers have been sportsmen long before they became politicians, not the other way around.
To be continued