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POC seeks P450M budget for five international sports events in 2022


The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) has submitted an additional budget request of P450 million in the General Appropriation Act (GAA) to help Filipino national athletes prepare for five major international competitions come 2022.

In a statement, POC president Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino said that he had submitted the letter of request to Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III through Senate Committee on Appropriations Chair Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez.

The P450 million is broken down into P5 million for the Winter Olympics (Beijing, February 4 to 20), P150 million for the Sixth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games or AIMAG (Bangkok and Chonburi, Thailand, March 10 to 20), and P10 million for The World Games or TWG (Birmingham, Alabama, USA, July 7 to 22).

P270 million is allocated for the 19th Asian Games (Hangzhou, China, September 10 to 25) while the P15 million left is for the Fifth Asian Youth Games or AYG (Shantou, China, December 20 to 28).

"Participation in these high level sports events is truly significant as these are held only every four years,” Tolentino said in the letter of request dated Monday.

“Not only will joining these sports events showcase the Filipino brand of athletic talent, but more so elevate the morale of our athletes and inspire other young Filipinos to engage in sports training and development.”

Tolentino, also the cycling chief, said the budget was based on the number of participating athletes, their events, and the costs of their training.

The POC is expecting that the Asian Games will have the most participants ranging from 250 to 275 athletes, followed by the AIMAG with 160 athletes, AYG with 15 to 20, and the Winter Olympics with three to four athletes.

The World Games, meanwhile, is by invitation from the international federations that are not on the Summer or Winter Olympics calendars.

Tolentino also bared that possible additional expenses for the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam were also stated in the request but not in the actual budget matrix. The estimated funding for the postponed biennial meet is pegged at P200 million. — LA, GMA News

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