PSC strengthening talent search program, revives Batang Pinoy, PNG
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 18 Oct 2010
The Philippine Sports Commission will be reviving the Batang Pinoy and Philippine National Games that have been mothballed for a little more than a decade.
The cancellation of the Batang Pinoy, once the centerpiece grassroot-oriented program for children athletes had been blamed for the lack of fresh talents to fill in the vacuum left by the aging and retiring members of the national training pool.
Likewise, the scrapping of the PNG, which, for some time, served as an avenue in the recruitment of high performing athletes, caused the dearth of talents in the national pool resulting in the drop of the Filipino athletes? performance in the international stage.
?We will revive these two very important schemes in our resolve to address the seeming deterioration of our athletes? performance in the different international commitments,? PSC chair Richie Garcia said disclosed in an interview.
?If you have noticed, panipis na nang panipis ang mga young talents which we used to discover from the provinces.. And this is because we no longer have the means to find them in the absence of the Batang Pinoy, which used to provide us the needed fresh legs,? Garcia observed.
?Similarly and as a subsequent, our talents in the national pool has become thinner and thinner so we also thought of bringing back the PNG,? the PSC top honcho added.
Like before, the mechanics of Batang Pinoy would focus on finding highly potential junior athletes on the elementary (10-12) age bracket, junior division (13-15) and senior (16-18).
The PNG, on the other hand, would synchronize the annual championships of the 36 national sports associations as well as their calendar of activities to give ample time to prepare their athletes for international competitions.
?These schemes, naturally, need funding and that is the reason we are leaving no stone unturned in convincing Congress, both the House of Representatives and the Senate, for an increase budget from the General Appropriations Act,? Garcia said.
Garcia said the P160n million budget it recommended for his agency by the budget department is too small and is P60 million lesser than last year?s P224 million appropriation by the previous Congress.
Besides that, the newly-constituted PSC board of commissioners is also working hard to revert back to five percent PAGCOR?s share in the PSC?s National Sports Development Fund based on Section 26 of Rep. Act 6847, the law that created the agency.
In the latter part of President Ramos? term, the PAGCOR share was reduced to 2.5 percent without the benefit of amending the law.
?We probably need an Executive Order from President Nonoy to get back what?s due to the agency,? Garcia proposed.
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