Sports Commission gives NSAs 30 days within which to liquidate gov’t financial aids

The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) on Tuesday gave a 30-day period for 57 National Sports Associations (NSAs) to liquidate their outstanding balances from the government sports body or face sanctions. (Photo: Philippine Sports Commission/ Facebook)

MANILA –The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) on Tuesday gave a 30-day period for 57 National Sports Associations (NSAs) to liquidate their outstanding balances from the government sports body or face sanctions.

PSC chair William “Butch’ Ramirez, together with his five Commissioners, in a press conference said as of Feb. 13 (2017), 57 NSAs had a total outstanding balance of Php 98,736,165 in the form of financial assistance from the government sports body.

The PSC gave the NSAs until March 16, 2017 to meet their obligations.

As this developed, Ramirez immediately ordered acting PSC executive director lawyer Carlo Abarquez to write the leaders of those NSAs , demanding them to explain and liquidate their financial obligations.

Ramirez gave a stern warning that PSC would not hesitate to suspend its financial assistance to “erring” NSAs who would not liquidate, stressing those funds were people’s money.

The PSC chair, however, explained that the government agency would continue giving financial assistance to athletes, coaches and also sports organizations with “good standing” records.

Ramirez and his Commissioners are in unison in calling NSAs to settle amicably their internal “intramurals” for the sake of Philippine sports and to athletes who are training hard to compete for Flag and country.

Commissioner Ramon Fernandez, for his part, revealed that a “leadership crisis” marred at least seven NSAs that include lawn tennis, bowling, volleyball, table tennis, swimming and archery, which affected their respective athletes.

The PSC leadership has pointed out their actions was clearly under the law that created the government agency –to exercising their supervisory and visitorial powers.

In a related issue, Jun Fortaleza of the Southeast Asian Games Task Force (SEAG-TF) told sportswriters that 19 out of 38 NSAs have already submitted their request for logistical support for their participation in the forthcoming SEA Games which will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this August.