With the P5-billion budget for the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games yet to be released, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) was assured of additional cash by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) to start the refurbishing of government-owned venues that may be tapped for the event.

PSC chairman William “Butch” Ramirez yesterday announced that PAGCOR committed to give P842 million to support the hosting of the prestigious biennial meet that will open on 30 November at the New Clark City in Tarlac.

Ramirez said the additional budget would be used to refurbish key government-owned facilities like the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, Rizal Memorial Coliseum, both in Manila, and the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

The Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) initially identified bowling and gymnastics as the only sports that were supposed to be held in Metro Manila.

But reports have it that the organizing body later transferred prominent sports like basketball and volleyball to the metropolis as well as lawn tennis, soft tennis, squash, billiards, badminton, ice skating, ice hockey, karatedo, taekwondo, kickboxing, e-sport, fencing, men’s football and wushu.

We’re hoping to improve these facilities to make them attractive for private use even after the SEA Games.

Surfing, however, will be held in La Union while cycling and skateboarding will be staged in Tagaytay City, women’s football in Biñan City and polo in Batangas City.

Based on the Republic Act 6847 or the law that created the PSC in 1990, the government sports agency stands to receive five percent from the gross income of PAGCOR. This remittance goes to the national sports development fund, which is being used to support the allowance and training of the national athletes in major international tournament.

Ramirez, however, said the P842 million is outside of PAGCOR’s monthly remittance.

“We are very thankful to PAGCOR, especially to chairman Andrea Domingo, for helping us in our preparation for the Southeast Asian Games,” said Ramirez during the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the Amelie Hotel in Manila.

“With this fund that is outside the P5-billion SEA Games budget and PAGCOR’s monthly remittance to us, we can now start refurbishing the facilities that will be used for the Southeast

Asian Games,” he added.

Ninoy Aquino Stadium, Rizal Memorial Coliseum and Philsports Arena are three of the country’s oldest arenas.

The 6,000-seater Ninoy Aquino

Stadium was erected in 1989 and it

hosted the volleyball tournament in

the Manila SEA Games in 1991 and

table tennis events in the 2005 biennial

meet while the 8,000-seater Rizal Memorial

Coliseum was built in 1934 and was used in when the country hosted the Far Eastern Championship Games, now known as the Asian Games.

We are very thankful to PAGCOR, especially to chairman Andrea Domingo, for helping us in our preparation for the Southeast Asian Games.

Philsports Arena, meanwhile, was built in 1985 and has a seating capacity of 10,000. It served as the home of the Philippine Basketball Association during its glory years in the 1980s and the 1990s.

Ramirez said the PAGCOR assistance, which would be released any time soon, will be utilized to improve the air-conditioning system, dugouts, bleachers, parking and façade of these facilities to make it usable even after the biennial meet.

“We’re hoping to improve these facilities to make them attractive for private use even after the SEA Games,” he said, adding that these three facilities could serve as either practice or competition venues during the biennial meet.

Meanwhile, the PSC classified the 1,452 national athletes based on their respective medal potentials.

Eight athletes were classified as Platinum while 51 will be Class A athletes; 90 will be Class B athletes; 206 will be Class C athletes; 519 will be members of the training pool and 578 will be junior or developmental pool.

Platinum athletes stand to receive a monthly allowance of P45,000 while Class A will get P30,000, Class B P27,000, Class C P24,000, members of team sports P17,000 and training pool both in individual and team sports P10,000.

The PSC will sit down with the athletes, coaches and NSA leaders in a general assembly today to further discuss the matter.

“The welfare of athletes is our topmost priority,” Ramirez said, adding that they had already inaugurated the dining halls and refurbished the dormitories in preparation for the biennial meet.