Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 24) — Two sports programs are set to address the mandates of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), an official said Monday.
The PSC said Project “Duyan ng Magiting” is its entry-level program, while Project “Gintong Laban” is for elite, high-performance athletes.
“These two projects are part of our national sports development plan and this is our mandate under RA 6847, for us to create a genuine and far-reaching grassroots program and of course, a program that will support athletes that are competing internationally. We are addressing our mandates through these national sports development plan,” PSC chairman Noli Eala told CNN Philippines.
Eala further explained that Duyan ng Magiting will start from the barangays, where the PSC will be tapping national sports associations and engage agencies such as the Department of Education and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
The PSC chief also highlighted the importance of the family’s role in the grassroots program.
“We are hoping that we can bring in the family to support the activity of engaging children or the young to get into sports. It’s an entry-level program that will progress from sports camps to a festival of sports to the Batang Pinoy program, the Palarong Pambansa, the CHED (Commission on Higher Education) National Games, all the way to the Philippine National Games,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gintong Laban is seen to support not just the athletes but also the coaches.
“The components are basically supporting our athletes in their international training, bringing foreign coaches to help them and help our coaches improve our systems, and enhancing training equipment, including reliance on sports sciences… and finally, improving our infrastructure and giving back to all of the athletes what they need so they can improve and be competitive in the international scene,” Eala explained.
The PSC chief, however, admitted the lack of funding, adding that they will seek the help of the private sector.
“I have begun reaching out to the kind-hearted supporters of sports and many of them are very, very warm about helping Philippine sports,” Eala shared.
“What we’re trying to do is just pull together all the help that we can muster from the private sector and specifically channel it towards specific programs,” he added.
