Pro-RMSC group wants planned sale stopped.
In an effort to keep the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, officials from various National Sports Associations are set to submit a petition letter to President Duterte following a meeting Wednesday.
In a three-page letter, the NSAs asked the Chief Executive to stop negotiations between the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the City of Manila, which owns the rights to the 10-hectare facility.
“We, the officers of various National Sports Associations (NSAs), on behalf of our members and fellow athletes, appeal on your good conscience, to halt any and all plans to tear down the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex to make way for a commercial developments,” said the petition.
“We make this appeal amid widely circulating reports of strong interests from business behemoths to acquire the sports complex for their commercial projects.”
The petition to Duterte, Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (ABAP) executive director Ed Picson said, is backed by 54 NSAs and more than half have already signed the paper.
“As soon as we finish with the signing of the petition paper, we’ll forward it to the President,” said Picson. “We, NSA officials, we’ve been meeting about this issue the past several weeks.”
“So we decided to come out with this petition letter and we’re hoping that the President can help not just us but more importantly our national team athletes,” added Piczon.
The meeting was held at the office of Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion. Also present during discussion were Makati Rep. Monsour Del Rosario and Lilian Manahan of the Heritage Conservation Society and International Council for Monuments and Sites.
Philippine Sports Commission chairman Butch Ramirez is negotiating with the City of Manila for the agency to relinquish rights to the facility that was built in 1934.
There have been dialogues in the past, and the last was two weeks ago when officials of Manila, led by Mayor Joseph Estrada, reportedly made an offer to the PSC for P5 billion.
Also, reports had it that business tycoon Enrique Razon is interested in buying the RMSC for P10 billion and transform it into one of the biggest shopping and entertainment centers in the country.
Picson said that they requested an audience with Ramirez. The PSC chairman, however, was not available but was given a copy of the petition letter which the group hopes to deliver to Duterte today.
“We implore the government to shun calls of big business to put RMSC under the chopping block of “progress”. The RSMC is a national heritage that cannot be priced in economic terms as it gives Philippine sports its unique identity and history,” part of the statement said.
“Its role in Philippine sports has transformed it into a symbol of the Filipinos’ victories and defeats in various sports disciplines. It is the badge of honor every athlete who has played there proudly carries.”
