To train more Pinoys for Olympics, solon wants new Sports Dept

To turn the Philippines’ dream for an Olympic gold into reality, a congressman on Thursday pushed for the creation of a new department to develop the field of sports in the country.

 

In House Bill 6390, Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) party-list Rep. Mark Aeron Sambar proposed the abolition of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to give way to a new Department of Sports.

 

“After 21 years, the expected improvement and development in the field of sports under the PSC is still wanting,” Sambar said in a statement.

 

He added that the Philippines’ “miniscule” contingent to the 2012 London Olympics “underlines the lowly stage of our sports development.”

 

The Philippines sent only 11 athletes to the Olympics this year--the country’s smallest delegation so far to the quadrennial sports event. Before 2001, the Department of Education was called the Department of Education, Culture and Sports. The agency used to be in-charge of sports education in schools, until the Governance of Basic Education Act (Republic Act 9155) was passed to focus its role on basic education.

 

In 1990, the PSC was reated under Republic Act 6847 to be the lead agency in overseeing and reforming the state of sports in the country.

 

‘Galvanizing force’

 

Sambar said the creation of the new department will address problems in the field of sports in the country, such as the lack of a comprehensive national sports program and the lack of state-of-the-art facilities for training Filipino athletes.

 

“Once the department is established, sports would once again become an integral component of youth development, a galvanizing force for national unity and a source of national pride,” the lawmaker said.

 

He likewise proposed a P178.2 million funding for Department of Sports during its first year of operation.

 

HB 6390 has been pending before the House committee on government reorganization since last week. The measure must get a majority vote from all the panel’s member for it to be sent to the plenary for debates. — RSJ, GMA News