PSC raring to crack whip on erring NSAs

The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) recently gave 57 national sports associations (NSAs) a 30-day period to liquidate the funds they received from the government sports agency or face sanctions. 

PSC Chairman William Ramirez, in a press conference, bared that the said NSAs have a total outstanding balance of P98,736,165 in the form of financial assistance released by the commission.

The sports associations were given until March 16, 2017, to fulfill their obligations.

As this developed, Ramirez ordered acting PSC Executive Director Carlo Abarquez to demand from the heads of the NSAs an explaination on why they have not yet o filed their respective liquidation reports.

The PSC chief warned that he would not hesitate to suspend the agency’s financial assistance to any NSA that fails to liquidate its funds, stressing that “it’s people’s money.”

Athletes, coaches and sports organizations with “good standing” records, meanwhile, will continue receiving financial aid from the government sports agency, he said.

In a related development, Ramirez and his four commissioners called on several NSAs to settle their internal disputes for the sake of Philippine sports and the athletes who are training hard to represent the flag and country in major international competitions.

Commissioner Ramon Fernandez revealed that seven NSAs – the Philippine Lawn Tennis Association (Philta), Philippine Bowling Congress (PBC), Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF), Table Tennis Association of the Philippines (Tatap), Philippine Swimming, Inc. (PSI) and Philippine Archer’s National Network and Alliance, Inc. (Panna) – are currently wracked by leadership crisis that has affected the training of their respective athletes.

Meanwhile, Jun Fortaleza of the Southeast Asian Games Task Force (SEAG-TF) reported that 19 out of 38 NSAs have already submitted requests for logistical support for their participation in the forthcoming SEA Games which will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this August. PNA