The contracts of 23 foreign coaches that the Philippine Sports Commission has in its payroll are under review.
PSC chairman William “Butch” Ramirez said this as he bared plans by the government sports agency to reduce the number of overseas mentors.
“We plan to rescind (some of the contracts). Napapag-usapan namin ito sa NSA affairs and it's quite difficult,” said Ramirez.
The agency is currently making cutbacks after the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation lowered its remittance this month to the PSC.
The board discussed steps that the PSC will take as part of its commitment to give the national athletes and coaches the financial assistance that is rightfully theirs.
“We are trying to calibrate (our assistance) and see if we can extend it to August,” said Ramirez.
The PSC chief added that the coaches of Olympic qualifiers like gymnast Carlos Yulo, pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, along with boxers Eumir Marcial and Irish Magno should stay.
“We are studying all these,” said Ramirez.
Yulo is currently training in Japan under Munehiro Kugiyama, while Obiena is in Italy with Vitaly Petrov.
Diaz is doing her preparations in Malaysia with a team of coaches, led by Chinese mentor Kaiwen Gaw, while Marcial and Magno are under Australian coach Don Abnett.
The meeting on the fate of the foreign coaches comes a week after the board decided to cut the allowances of members of the national team in half, starting next month.
“Kapag bumalik 'yan (remittance of the PAGCOR), we are committed to giving it to them. Our goal is to spend it for the athletes,” said Ramirez.
