Two programs involving elite athletes and grassroots development will soon be unravelled by the Philippine Sports Commission.
These activities will be an offshoot of the Project: Gintong Alay, an elite level national sports program, which the Philippine government implemented under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos from 1979 until 1986.
Set to be launched under the names, “Duyan ng Magiting” and “Gintong Laban”, PSC chairman Noli Eala said the two undertakings are now in their planning stages and will soon be presented to the national sports associations and other stakeholders in sports.
“After our strat planning next week, we hope to roll these out, so we can brief our stakeholders and our partners,” said Eala, who introduced the programs to officials of national sports associations, who attended a consultative meeting with the PSC at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila.
Duyan ng Magiting (Cradle of the Brave) will be the first component of the PSC program, with Eala describing it as a whole range of programs, composed of entry level events that lead to the Philippine National Games.
Gintong Laban (Golden Fight) covers the high-performance aspect of elite athletes, a tweak of Gintong Alay.
The welfare of Filipino athletes competing at the elite level is also being worked on by the PSC in this undertaking.
“This is a high-performance program for elite athletes, and in this particular program, we are hoping to tweak Project: Gintong Alay, wherein we take care of the elite athletes, and prepare them for the highest level of competition by raising enough funds,” added Eala.
Support through infrastructure, equipment, services through the medical and sports sciences are also part of the two programs.
Sixty-eight officials of the 74 invited NSAs showed up for the daylong meeting, which also discussed the PSC’s view on respecting the autonomy of Philippine Olympic Committee-recognized sports organizations.
At the same, the PSC urged the NSAs to liquidate financial assistance that were granted them, and responsibly account for them.
With many NSAs still faced with liquidation issues with the PSC, Eala told NSA officials to practice responsible autonomy, wherein the agency will respect the each organization’s ability to run their affairs, while concerned sports bodies take responsibility on funds entrusted to them.
Eala also told the NSAs that the PSC is aligning its framework of cooperation with the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Agenda 2020.
The Agenda was adopted by the IOC during its meeting in Monaco in December 2014.
Olympic Agenda 2020 has a set of 40 detailed recommendations with overarching goal was to safeguard the Olympic values and strengthen the role of sport in society.
Eala said among the goals presented by the IOC is for local organizations to follow and respect domestic law.
“And this is in relation to the compliance that we are asking from the NSAs,” added Eala.