The Philippine Sports Commission will spend around P1.2-billion to get the national delegation ready for the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
Team Philippines Chef de Mission William Ramirez said the expenditure may not match what the other member nations will spend in their preparations.
But, this will help members of the national team in their bid to get foreign exposure in international meets.
“We have added P200-million for foreign exposures. And there in the past that such an amount has been appropriated,” said Ramirez.
The PSC chief said they had already allocated P600-million for training and exposure, aside from P400-million for equipment.
And this does not include the P6-billion budget that Philippine government has set aside for hosting the SEA Games this year.
Ramirez noted that Malaysia has set aside $2-billion for the preparations done on their national team.
And there are a total of 9,840 athletes from 11 Southeast Asian countries who are expected to participate in the 30th SEA Games.
The Games will feature 530 events in 56 sports.
“The amount of P600-million might be short because of the additional events,” added Ramirez.
This will be the fourth time that the country will host the biennial meet. The Philippines hosted it in 1981, 1991 and 2005.