The Philippine Football Federation is hopeful that the Interagency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) will allow them to resume physical activities anytime soon.
PFF president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta said this after they submitted a 27-page proposal to the IATF.
The proposals put in detail the safety and health protocols that can be followed when conducting practices.
“Yesterday, it was submitted to the IATF and it is now being reviewed by a group of people regarding the documents. We submitted a 27-page document and hopefully, IATF will allow us, our clubs, to practice,” said Araneta in a podcast last Tuesday.
The proposal was sent to the IATF, following Araneta's talks with Games and Amusement Board chairman Abraham “Baham” Mitra last Friday.
Araneta said the PFF seeks to have its first phase done, which is for practice to commence for many teams since the lockdown began last March 15.
“The second phase is to play. So, if there’s no incidents in the practice sessions, then maybe we can resume the playing phase. We utilized the FIFA documents also, the risk assessment and to start football in each county. So, we also used those documents to submit to the IATF. We also used the WHO documents,” added Araneta.
The PFF chief said the safety of players will be their primary concern when their activities are restarted.
“Number one that we have to consider is the safety of the players. If it’s not safe for the players, might as well not start it. But it has been shown in other countries that has been worse-hit than the Philippines, they are starting their leagues, they are starting their practice sessions,” added Araneta.