Thursday, February 01, 2007 Sports body to help solons amend law By Frank C. Calapre Sun.Star Correspondent
MANILA - The Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) formed a five-man committee, who would help legislators formulate the proposed amendments of Republic Act (RA) 6847, or the PSC Law.
POC president Jose Cojuangco said the committee composed of academicians and noted sports achievers will draft necessary provisions and attend the hearings to be conducted by the House of Representatives committee on youth and sports development headed by Rep. Renato Uinico of Camarines Norte.
"We have chosen these people based on their expertise and familiarity in the job," said Cojuangco, who was also a long-time member of the Lower House as representative of Tarlac’s first district.
Academicians
He mentioned academicians Fulgencio Factoran and Benjamin Espiritu of De La Salle as among the members of the committee, along with Philippine National Shooting Association president Arturo Macapagal—brother of President Arroyo—and International Olympic Committee (IOC) permanent representative to the Philippines Frank Elizalde. The fifth member has yet to be chosen, according to Cojuangco.
Cojuangco said the committee will act as the neutral proponent in the effort to amend RA 6847, the law that created the PSC on Jan. 24, 1990, which is tasked to undertake the development of sports in the country.
"We are confident we can ammend the RA 6847. It is about time," added Cojuangco, younger brother of former president Corazon Aquino. Among the changes that need to be done is the conversion of the PSC into a Department and the chairman to a Cabinet secretary, according to Cojuangco, who is also president of the Philippine Equestrian Association.
Second priority
"The problems in sports can not be discussed in the regular Cabinet meeting because the chairman is not a Cabinet secretary. It is likened that sports is just relegated to second priority by the government," he said.
He also said the position of the chairman should be given a fixed term of at least five years to be able to have enough time to implement a long-range program for the development of sports.
"A chairman cannot implement a long-range program if he has only a short period to stay, so there will be no continuity as far as the vision for sports is concerned," he said.
