Richard "Dickie" Bachmann hit the ground running, making sure that everything is in order even before he formally assumes the chairmanship of the Philippine Sports Commission.
Bachmann, a longtime corporate executive, gave PSC employees a preview of his managerial skills when he reported for work at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex very early on Wednesday – three hours before formally getting sworn in as the 12th chairperson of the government sports agency.
Together with very few PSC employees, Bachmann inspected the Rizal Memorial Stadium, National Squash Center, track oval and other government sports facilities around 7 a.m. before rushing to his 10 a.m. appointment with Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Hubert Guevarra at Malacañang to take his oath of office as PSC boss.
Then, he went back to the PSC main office to preside over his first board meeting with sports commissioners Olivia "Bong" Coo, Edward Hayco and Walter Torres.
Bachmann said working early is nothing new to him.
"This is a force of habit. I am always early when I used to work for Alaska Milk Corporation," the 54-year-old Bachmann told Daily Tribune in an interview after emerging from a four-hour board meeting.
"With this basically, I also wanted to come early and I wanted to see people down – the security guards, the people cleaning the office. That's what I wanted to do first. When I came in, I saw them, I went all the way straight to my office upstairs and looked around to kinda make it sink in that I'm going to be the PSC chairman in a few hours."
"Without anyone, I wanted to go around the whole PSC and see it for myself. I didn't have anyone with me. It just so happened that when I walked around the PSC office, the training centers, a lot of employees, the security guards started to join."
But Bachmann's first order of business is to sustain the momentum that the country gained from its successful Olympic participation in Tokyo.
The PSC chief said he wants to sit down with the Philippine Olympic Committee to form a joint task force that will monitor the training, competitions and overall preparations of athletes who are being groomed to compete in the Paris Olympics next year.
He added that he wants to focus on the athletes and make sure to provide the needs of various national sports associations while boosting the agency's relationship with the POC.
"I have my focus on the athletes and the NSAs," he said.
"I will also be strengthening my relationship with the POC. In fact, they wrote a congratulatory letter from (Abraham) Bambol (Tolentino) of the POC and I will respond by asking him to create a task force – both PSC and POC – so we can work together for all the events leading to the Olympics."
"But we haven't tackled it yet. Right now, I am focused on the organization itself."
Bachmann is facing tough challenges.
Aside from the Olympics, Bachmann will also have to make sure that the athletes will be given everything they need in preparation for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games, the 19th Asian Games and several Olympic qualifying tournaments.
Bachmann stressed that he will consult with his commissioners and heads of various sports federations to get the job done.
"I have to talk to the finance department because I have been hearing things about athletes' allowances getting delayed and fix it," Bachmann said.
"There are so many good plans for the PSC. We just have to implement it properly and make it current and that's what I have to do with the commissioners and the NSAs."