By WAYLON GALVEZ
A Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) official on Saturday clarified that the allowance of national athletes competing in team sports might differ depending on the schedule of events they have for next year.
Marc Velasco, who heads the agency’s Sports Institute (PSI), said: “Iba kasi pag team sports, depende kung naka-indicate sa request ng mga NSA (national sports association) na may competition ang team for next year.”
“If meron naman, tuloy ang allowance for team sports. Like for instance, softball, baseball and water polo meron yan. Sa ibang sports, if may problem, they (teams) have to check of their NSA kasi may requirements din naman yan that they need to submit,” he added.
Early this month, the government agency for sports has already reduced the monthly allowances of national team athletes and coaches by 50 percent due to the coronavirus pandemic.
PSC chairman William “Butch” Ramirez said that the action was taken “in order to sustain the granting of allowances until December 2020” – although it appears that it is only for individual athletes.
Under the law, the PSC gets funding from the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) via shares in revenue from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).
Since the pandemic, the money from PAGCOR has considerably diminished.
Velasco, however, said that if the remittance from PAGCOR returns to normal, the PSC board would revert the allowance of national team athletes and coaches back to full for the year.
“That is kung babalik na uli sa dati, or may maibigay ng malaki ang PAGCOR. For now kasi, kung ano lang ang meron ang PSC, yun na lang yung talaga for athletes,” said Velasco.
