PH sports renaissance seen with signing of new law

By Ellson Quismorio 

The Philippines is bound to regain its old glory as southeast Asia’s leader in sports after President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act (RA) 11214 or the Philippine Sports Training Center Act.

(Mark Balmores / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

This was pointed out by Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) Party-List Rep. Mark Sambar on Sunday, noting that Duterte’s signing of the PSTC law was a solid demonstration of his resolve to win the war against illegal drugs not just through effective law enforcement, but also through the promotion of sports among the youth.

Sambar said that he and fellow nominee Rep. Jericho Nograles pushed for the approval of RA 11214, knowing full well that Philippine sports was on a steady decline because much of the existing sports facilities that were built in the 1970s were either ill-equipped or are already in a state of disrepair.

Through RA 11214, the PSC will be allocated P3.5 billion to build and manage necessary sports facilities and amenities within 18 months in a location “suitable and conducive to high-level training of athletes, coaches and referees.”

“Sports is a very potent weapon against illegal drugs,” Sambar pointed out.

“Our youth are being targeted by these drug traffickers and this law will definitely provide the much needed boost to increase the interest of our young people to be more involved in sports instead of wasting their lives on illegal drugs,” he said.

“This already disproves the claim of critics that he only knows ‘tokhang’ as means to fight the drug menace ” the solon added.

The PSTC Law is expected to become a big moral-booster for stakeholders in the sports sector, which has been plagued with mediocrity due to funding problems, internal conflicts. and even incompetence.

Sambar said that through PSTC, the PSC can now have enough funding and establish the right facilities to train and develop world-class athletes, coaches, and referees to represent the country in various international sporting competitions.

“With this law, I am very confident we are now closer to getting our elusive gold medal in the 2020 Olympic Games which will be held in Tokyo, Japan,” Sambar boldly stated.