Davao City – The Department of Education (Deped) and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) yesterday lauded the start of their collaboration, citing the two-day National Sports Planning Workshop that was set to close here at the Pinnacle Hotel and Suites, Nov.7.
Deped Assistant Secretary Revsee Escobedo, during a press conference, praised the national sports agency for the initiative and efforts to unify the country’s grassroots sports development program.
“This collaboration is a brainchild of our Chairman (William “Butch” Ramirez) and Secretary (Leonor) Briones. We welcome this major step and development in our grassroots program especially for the benefit of our athletes of Deped,” Escobedo said.
He also said that through the partnership, PSC will help Deped develop and train its athletes and coaches. This, he added, will raise the level of standards and capabilities of the athletes and coaches not just for national competitions but in the international stage as well.
Ramirez thanked Secretary Briones, sharing that the Deped-PSC collaboration was initiated when they talked during the Philippine National Games (PNG) 2018 opening ceremonies in Cebu last summer.
“This is a milestone development, for we believe without Deped there will be no grassroots sports program,” the PSC chief said.
The collaboration with Deped and local government units (LGUs), according to him, will be vital in pushing for a genuine grassroots sports development program.
He proposes that both government agencies agree on focus sports, which are aligned in the Olympics and Asian Games roster of events, to maximize both their resources.
Ramirez also heard that the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games that the country will be hosting will have a total of 56 sports. But he cited South Korea and Australia only have focus sports that their respective governments are funding.
He added, “Why focus sports? Kakaunti lang ang sports, less expensive and more room for athletes to excel.”
He committed that PSC will also fund upgrading of teachers and coaches of Deped since their improvement will also improve the Palarong Pambansa as a whole.
Meanwhile, PSC Commissioner Celia Kiram said: “The Deped-PSC collaboration has started. Hopefully a good result will come out of this convergence for the betterment and development of sports in the country.”
With a very good pool of talented student-athletes who will be scientifically trained, Kiram said the elusive gold medal in the Olympics might be achieved soon.(pr)
