The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) will strictly adhere with the accounting rules of the Commission on Audit (CoA) in disbursing money for the 30th Southeast Asian Games. PSC chairman William “Butch” Ramirez vowed that they will carefully scrutinize all funding requests, especially those coming from the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) Foundation Inc., a private body that is organizing the biennial meet without the imprimatur of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) executive council. Ramirez said safety protocols were placed to ensure the proper disbursement of the massive P6-billion budget allotted for the country’s hosting of the Games. PHILIPPINE Sports Commission William “Butch” Ramirez vows to guard the P6-billionbudgetforthecountry’shostingofthe30thSoutheastAsianGames. Based on his discussion with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go two weeks ago, Phisgoc will organize the biennial meet while the POC will be in-charge of the technical requirements. The PSC and the Department of Budget and Management, meanwhile, will disburse the funding with the government sports agency serving as the first line of defense. Although spending has yet to go full blast, the PSC had already started scrutinizing the funding requests. In fact, multiple sources told Daily Tribune that the PSC board of commissioners already declined “quite a handful” of financial requests from Phisgoc after finding out that they do not conform with the rules and regulations of the Commission on Audit. Daily Tribune also obtained a copy of a financial request signed by Phisgoc Foundation Ramon Suzara on 16 July. It shows that the organizing body is seeking a total of P379 million to cover the hotel accommodation of athletes, coaches, delegates and even members of foreign media who would cover the Games. Aside from that Phisgoc is also asking for P222 million for transportation, P286 million for catering services, P60 million for logistics and warehouse requirements, and P25 million for waste management. Ramirez said they would be very careful in disbursing fund. “In dealing with government, there’s no Olympic- quality, there’s no SEA Games-quality because all we know is CoA-quality,” Ramirez said. “We are accountable if something happens and all disbursements must be done aboveboard. We have to do our best in scrutinizing the requests and make sure that public fund is protected” A monitoring group composed of Atty. Kim Raissa Uy of the Office of the Executive Secretary, Assistant Secretary Joseph Encabo of the Presidential Management Staff and PSC executive director Merlita Ibay been created to monitor the disbursement of fund. The group will report to Medialdea every week to update him on the financial status of the Games.