FOR the nth time, Philippine Sports Commission chairman William “Butch” Ramirez yesterday implored the country’s lawmakers and government leaders to enforce the five percent gross income of the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp. to be remitted to the PSC as provided by law to sustain local sports development.
“I don’t know if our government or Congress loves our sports because there is a clear provision in Republic Act 64847 that created the PSC that five percent of its gross income should go to the PSC,” Ramirez said in the first actual PSA forum in two years at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex administration building.
“Our national athletes and coaches should demand that because they deserve the money.
Our politicians and sports leaders should be compelled to remit that money to the PSC because it is provided under the law,” he stressed.
Although past chairmen before him have also tried, he said that the fact remains that this provision under RA 647 that created the PSC has not been fully implemented.
It will be recalled that during the term of former President Fidel Ramos, the five percent gross income of Pagcor to the PSC was halved, with the 2.5 percent going to the Chief Executive’s discretionary fund.
As a former congressman of Pampanga, NLEX coach Yeng Guiao also filed a petition with the Supreme Court regarding the issue but the decision remains pending until now.
“If we Filipinos are dreaming of having another gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics, we have to invest in our athletes. You need money for that,” Ramirez pointed out.
The success of weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz and other Pinoy athletes in the last six years was not by chance or conjured out of thin air, Ramirez stressed.
“These achievements were not done by magic. Hindi ito tsamba. Kung wala kang itinanim, wala ka ring aanihin,” the PSC honcho said of the hundreds of millions of pesos the government sports agency poured into elite sports and national athletes that led to the country’s fruitful campaigns overseas.
“I was blessed that we had the money when I came back as PSC chairman and knew the needs of our national athletes since I stayed with them at the Philsports Complex dorms in Pasig,” Ramirez said in the public sports program backed by San Miguel Corp., Milo, PSC, Philippine Olympic Committee, Unilever, Amelie Hotel Manila, and Pagcor.
He disclosed the PSC invested P600 million in elite sports at the start of his second term in 2016, P800 million in 2017, then over P1 billion in 2019 as the national athletes primed themselves for the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
As for his successor to the PSC top post, Ramirz said perhaps the next PSC chairman should be “less mabait than I am,” without forgetting the traits of humility and forgiveness.
“The new PSC chairman should be firm (in his policies and decisions) but he must never forget to be forgiving and humble, which was something that I learned in having a Jesuit education and training,” Ramirez said.
“I am ready to return to Davao but am willing to be an adviser and share my experience and knowhow with the incoming PSC leadership,” the 72-year-old Davao City native said.
