DAVAO City—Local government units will have an opportunity to become efficient organizers of sports activities in their area.
Philippine Sports Commission chairman William Ramirez said the reactivation of Executive Order 63 will LGUs an opportunity to do so.
This will boost the development of the countryside national grassroots program in the future.
EO 63, signed for implementation way back in 1993 by former president Fidel Ramos, allows LGUs to create physical and sports development councils at the provincial, city, municipal and barangay level.
“With technical assistance from the PSC, the LGUs can create game plans and focus on the sports disciplines that they want to develop,” said Ramirez.
The PSC chief said this during a gathering of mayors, heads of LGUs and their sports coordinators in a two-day meeting with the PSC and the Philippine Sports Institute at the Crystal Ballroom of the Pinnacle Hotel here.
The councils that the PSC proposes, according to Ramirez, follow patterns and activities that they have observed when they visited China and Korea in the past weeks.
As the agency concluded its meetings with LGUs in Visayas and Mindanao, the PSC goes to southern Luzon next week to meet with local leaders for a consultation meeting in Naga City.
Meanwhile, more local officials from Mindanao signed and gave their manifesto of support to the PSC, in support to an appeal to President Duterte so that he can order the Philippine Gaming Corporation to turn over un-remitted funds to the agency.
The LGUs wrote a petition addressed to Mr. Duterte, saying that Pagcor must release in full the agency’s 5 percent share of its gross income, which is in accordance to Republic Act no. 6847.
“The LGUs in Mindanao would like to have a genuine sports promotion and program in its respective localities, and adopt the mass-based grassroots development of the PSC,” according to the resolution.
The LGUs were led by Tagum City Mayor Allan Rellon and Kidapawan City Mayor Joseph Evangelista. Rellon is the vice president of the League of Cities of the Philippines.