PSC to halt NSA funding and will direct support to athletes and coaches

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

 

The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) confirmed that they will temporarily stop the funding of National Sports Associations (NSAs) that are yet to liquidate their expenses.

For the meantime, the PSC will give their direct support and funding to the athletes and coaches under training and those who will be competing for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

In a recent report by the Commission on Audit (COA), 256,968,475.84 million pesos of the 305,117,477.56 budget released to 51 NSAs were still unliquidated by 49 NSAs.

As of July 31, 2020, the 49 NSAs still weren’t able to liquidate the budget given to them, a failure in the requirement for the release of the next assistance.

 

“Because of that, starting January, first day of January, we will not anymore give financial assistance to NSAs that have still unliquidated portions on financial assistance,” PSC Commissioner Ramon Fernandez said.

 

PSC already sent letters of completion but the 49 NSAs still have not replied and no accomplishment reports have been passed as of this moment.

 

“We’ve been writing, we’ve been asking the NSAs to be transparent. They want independence, yes, we can give them independence, but you have to be transparent,” Fernandez added.

 

For the meantime, Fernandez and the PSC will be directly giving financial and any aid to the country’s athletes and coaches especially those who are vying for a final spot in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.