Bigger funds eyed for Athletic Bowl upkeep

THE CITY Sports and Recreations Division (CSO) has called on lawmakers to carefully study a proposal that would give bigger funding for the Baguio Athletic Bowl.

With the City Council questioning the collection of fees for the use of the city owned sports facility, City Sports Development Officer Gaudencio Gonzales said the CSO might request for the increase of operational budget if the City Council will suspend the collection of fees in the athletic oval.

“We have to appeal for a higher annual budget if the council wants to suspend the collection of fees in the athletic oval. As we can see there is no means for the CSO to sustain the operation of the area if there will be no income generated,” Gonzales told Sun.Star Baguio.

Earlier this March, the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) transferred the management of the sevenhectare sports facility to the CSO following the partial turnover of the newly renovated area from the Department of Public Works and Highways-Baguio City Engineering Office.

This paved way to the official opening of the running oval for public use.

Gonzales said the annual budget of the CSO will not be enough to keep up with the operational and maintenance of the facility.

This year, P13.5 million was allocated to

CSO for the operations and other needs such as funding for the different national competitions such as Batang Pinoy, Philippine National Games, PhilSpada National Games, etc. along with the incentives given to athletes.

“The budget is just enough sa CSO operations which does not include the whole of athletic bowl. At the same time bago lang na naidagdag sa operations namin ang oval,” said Gonzales adding a lot of the daily visitors who use the facility have a positive outlook on the collected fees as joggers see the need for its maintenance.

Gonzales explained the collection is lower than Teachers Camp, which collects P35 per individual.

Presently, the CSO collects the minimum amount of P25 for regular visitors, P10 for students, government employees, while city-based athletes, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities can use the area for free.

Meanwhile for exclusive use of the area event organizers who wish to use the space a minimum fee of P20,000 will be collected for a minimum time of five hours, while P30,000 discounted fee will be paid for a whole day of actual use.

According to the CSO, all collected fees are currently being kept in a trust fund which is set aside exclusively for the maintenance of the area.

Gonzales added their office is already trying to calculate how much the city has to allocate if it wants the facility to be totally free of charge or propose a scheme that would make the use of athletic bowl free of charge. Mark Victor Pasagoy