Host responsibly
When the country invests millions in a tournament, it is doing so on the promise that the event will bring prestige and development.
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When the country invests millions in a tournament, it is doing so on the promise that the event will bring prestige and development.
The Philippines has been very aggressive in hosting international events. With a tourism heavyweight in Patrick “Pato” Gregorio as chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), we were able to successfully organize quite a handful of international events recently like those for football, basketball, volleyball, cycling, lawn tennis, surfing and gymnastics.
The momentum has not slowed. In the coming months, we will be rolling out the red carpet for delegates of international tournaments in sambo, golf, karate and the 7th Asian Beach Games in Cebu in 2028.
Truly, we have concocted the right formula to boost our local economy through sports. Every time we open our doors to foreign athletes and their supporters, we stimulate our hotel, restaurant and transportation sectors while receiving massive international exposure.
But this aggressive initiative must be balanced by an equal measure of responsibility. As we know, the government, through the PSC, has been very generous in spending billions of taxpayer money to bankroll these endeavors. In return, local organizers must ensure that these public funds are liquidated in a transparent and timely manner.
Take the FIVB Men’s World Championship that the country hosted last September, for example.
Reports have it that the PSC Legal Affairs Office revealed that the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) has yet to fully liquidate the nearly P2 billion in financial support that it received for its hosting of the prestigious 32-nation event seven months ago.
In fact, the federation has yet to account for P662 million of the total, prompting the Commission on Audit (CoA) to raise the red flag since government accounting rules state that liquidation must be done within 60 calendar days.
The new PNVF leadership under Tonyboy Liao has acknowledged the financial mess that it inherited from the past administration under Ramon “Tats” Suzara due to missing documents and accounting discrepancies. Although Liao’s humility in admitting their shortcomings is commendable, it is still systemic failure in how international events are managed. We cannot continue to host these world-class events if our internal accounts are in disarray.
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Government support is a privilege — not a right. When the country invests millions in a tournament, it is doing so on the promise that the event will bring prestige and development. But that promise is broken when organizers fail to explain exactly where the money went.
Delayed liquidation doesn’t just stall the process; it creates a vacuum of trust that can deter future private sponsors and lead to stricter, more bureaucratic hurdles that will further delay the process and hurt the recipients — the Filipino athletes.
The Filipinos are among the most passionate sports fans in the world. They deserve to see their country shine on the global stage, but they also deserve to know if their money is being used wisely, especially in this time of global crisis. Hosting international events should be a source of national pride — not a source of audit inquiries.
For the country to truly become a world-class sporting destination, local organizers must also show they are responsible stewards of public funds.
It is time to ensure that every major international event will lead to a successful participation for our athletes and a credible auditing process for the local organizers. After all, the PSC and CoA have been very helpful and lenient when it comes to liquidation provided that organizers can justify where every taxpayer centavo went.
If organizers will continue to be flagged after every international event, then the government must reconsider its stand on sports tourism and use public funds for basic social services like health care, livelihood, education and housing instead.
And if that happens, the Filipino athletes will be the biggest losers.
