How to be Caloy?

Our national pride, Carlos Yulo, is getting attention worldwide, not just because of his dazzling performance in the ongoing Paris Olympics, but also because of the deluge of rewards and incentives he’s bound to get.

After striking gold twice, the pledges began pouring in, including a total of P140 million from both the public and private sector.

A number of tycoons have pledged at least P10 million each while Senators Bong Go and Risa Hontiveros committed a combined amount of P52 million. P3 million will be coming from the House of Representatives and P10 million per gold medal from the national government.

On top of the boodles of cash, he’s also getting a three-bedroom condominium unit in McKinley Hill in Taguig City, lifetime meals in several restaurants, free haircuts, delivery services, gym memberships, and even colonoscopies.

Yulo is indeed breaking records in more ways than one — and we are all for it.

Except that it highlights the anomalous disparity of what an already successful athlete gets versus what many other talented and struggling national athletes are given.

To put things into context, Yulo’s cash reward of P140 million is almost 20 percent of the proposed 2025 budget for the entire Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

It is the PSC that disburses the allowances of all the athletes under more than 70 national sports associations. An entry level national athlete gets a monthly allowance of P10,200, not even half of what an average call center agent gets.

With a total population of 119 million people, the Philippines can have a deeper bench of potential sports superstars, if only we can harness grassroots talents.

The problem is, a talented young Juan dela Cruz will unlikely be inclined to pursue sports if he or she knows it will just lead to a life of penury. Parents will discourage their children from considering being a full time athlete if the income cannot possibly feed a family.

Add to this the fact that an athlete who wants to train full time will need proper infrastructure, equipment, gear, and services of coaches, nutritionists, physiotherapists, doctors, etc. He or she will also need exposure in international competitions which entail huge travel expenses.

To be fair to PSC, it tries to provide these but with such a meager budget coming from the national treasury and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, it can barely meet our athletes’ needs.

The national sports associations (NSA), the private organizations accredited by the Philippine Olympic Committee to field national athletes in international competitions, raise funds from the private sector with much difficulty.

Perhaps the only exception is the NSA for basketball, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, which is purportedly funded by its first president, Manny Pangilinan.

Basketball is, however, a sport that many Filipinos are obsessed with but are unlikely ever going to get an Olympic gold from. The megabucks spent for it is massively disproportionate to its medal yield.

Clearly, the problem is not just lack of both public and private funding, but also prioritization, which goes to how existing funds are actually being administered.

Questions have also time and again been raised about “politics” or even “corruption” in Philippine sports. One can only hope that our officials from the PSC and the NSAs have the best interest of our athletes in mind.

The realization that we can really be competitive in the Olympics should instigate both government and private decision makers to put in more funds into sports and not just exploit it as a public relations tool whenever one of our athletes emerge victorious in a major competition.

While rewards and incentives are important, it is imperative that we equip our present and aspiring athletes with the tools and means for them to not just survive, but flourish.

The victory of Yulo will undoubtedly inspire a million Olympic dreams, but unless we find a solution to what ails Philippine sports, those dreams may never be fulfilled.