Gov't sports agency to trim 2011 budget to P400-M

The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) will look at past financial assistance given to different National Sports Associations (NSAs) for reference before approving the proposed budgets being asked for their 2011 programs. According to PSC chairman Ricardo Garcia, the agency needs to trim the requested budgets from the NSAs to P400 million, the government sports agency’s total budget for the year. “We’re now up to P480 million, but we can only have a budget of P400 million, no more no less. We need to make adjustments since there are at least 11 more NSAs which have to submit their complete budget for this list," said Garcia. He has tapped his four commissioners, namely Chito Loyzaga, Jolly Gomez, Salvador Andrada ang Akiko Thomson-Guevarra, to talk to NSAs under their fold and try to find out ways to reduce their proposed budgets. Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) is seeking the highest budget among the NSAs, at P49,770,000, while the Canoe-Kayak Federation ranks next at P48,191,750. Garcia noticed that some NSAs are asking to have exposure in Europe, which entails huge costs, while others are hoping to compete in World Championships even when these NSAs have not even won a medal in Southeast Asian and Asian tournaments. “We will take a look at our records and find out how much is the average financial assistance extended by the PSC to the NSAs. We are willing to increase their budget by 100 or even 200 percent provided that it is justified," added Garcia. The informal one-on-one meeting with the PSC commissioners will take place next week with Garcia expecting results within two weeks. After the meeting, the budget request will go to the panel led by Garcia and POC president Jose Cojuangco Jr. for final approval. - KY, RCJ, GMANews.TV