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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Romualdez: House to focus on sports development in 2025 budget deliberations

Romualdez: House to focus on sports development in 2025 budget deliberations

Published Aug 5, 2024 06:34 am

At A Glance

  • Speaker Martin Romualdez said sports development will be a top priority for the House of Representatives even as the deliberations on the proposed P6.352-trillion national budget for 2025 commenced on Monday, Aug. 5.

1CF233B3-BEA8-4A96-BAF3-3ED821D78BC2.jpegHouse Speaker Martin Romualdez (Dexter Barro II/MANILA BULLETIN)

Speaker Martin Romualdez said sports development will be a top priority for the House of Representatives even as the deliberations on the proposed P6.352-trillion national budget for 2025 commenced on Monday, Aug. 5.

Romualdez made this remark during an ambush interview on Monday morning, just several hours after Carlos Yulo’s historic second gold medal in the vault finals of men’s artistic gymnastics in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“We’ve always felt that in sports we not only develop the youth but we inspire them not to just do well but to have a very healthy lifestyle, and that’s very good for the entire nation,” he said.

The Speaker said the lower chamber is planning to meet with representatives of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), and other sport agencies to help form the appropriate budget allocation for sports programs and development next year.

At present, the budget allocated for PSC in the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP) is at P725 million. This is a significant decrease from the existing 2024 national budget worth P1.156 billion.

However, if the trend from previous years continue in this year’s budget deliberations——especially with the success of Filipino athletes in the Paris Olympics——the proposed funding is expected to increase.

As stated on its website, the PSC pursues two main objectives: “increased participation in sports by Filipinos” and “excellence in sports performance by Filipinos”.

Apart from funding, the House will also look into providing holistic support to all athletes in the country.

“To make sure that our athletes are really supported and beyond that, I think we will look at the benefits that can be afforded, like lifetime pensions,” said Romualdez.

He noted that he will be meeting with Social Security System (SSS) President Rolando Macasaet regarding this matter.

Above all, following the successful two-gold medal campaign of Yulo, the House leader said he will use this as an opportunity to “spread the news to inspire our youth in sports”.

“That’s why we want to herald it and we want to celebrate and support it,” he added.

Romualdez said the proposed budget for sports next year should a heavy emphasis on the grassroots development.

He cited Yulo’s rousing success in artistic gymnastics, which for some naysayers was the kind reserved for athletes from more developed countries.

“Hindi mo akalain talaga, gold tayo, dalawa pa (You can’t really believe it, we won gold, two of them),” he emphasized.

Yulo became the first double Olympics gold medalist for the Philippines on Sunday evening. He topped both the floor exercise and vault competition.

Related Tags

sports development Martin Romualdez Carlos Yulo
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