PHILIPPINE Sports Commission Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez urged some 50 regional and program sports coordinators of the Philippine Sports Institute to be men and women of legacy as he also shared his fundamental beliefs to them during the two-day coordinators’ meeting held April 26 and 27 at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
Ramirez said that since PSI, created to address President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s mantra of making sports available to all relative to R.A. 6847 or the PSC Act, the work of PSI coordinators is a “very serious job.”
“We will focus on grassroots sports. For the first time in 27 years, the PSC will now have a genuine grassroots sports program. Go out of the box, be imaginative. Make yourself a person of legacy. Bahagi ka sa istorya ng Philippine sports,” Ramirez said.
He also bared his core values and beliefs that he also wants the coordinators to also embrace such as compassion, humility, competence, integrity, commitment and urgency to serve with conviction.
The PSC chief also reiterated that making sports accessible to the countryside is the President’s directive, thus, he would want all regional coordinators to also focus on collaborations with local government units and other stakeholders to start grassroots sports in their respective areas.
“In creating a vibrant and healthy citizens as stipulated in R.A. 6847, we need to implement programs in the grassroots level and these need need not be expensive. We can have sports programs and make use of the streets or parks or shorelines or rivers in making sports available for children, adults and seniors,” he said.
Ramirez added that investing on Filipinos, particularly children, is the real gold mine and not the Olympics, although he said that the PSC Board will stand by its commitment to support national athletes from the Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian Games this year to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
“This is the highway we’re taking in Philippine sports. What we’re doing is for the children and the motherland. We can all be a part of this historical journey of Philippine sports and together leave a legacy we can all be proud of,” said Ramirez.
PSC Commissioners Charles Raymond A. Maxey, Ramon Fernandez, Celia Kiram and Arnold Agustin were also in attendance along with PSI national training director Marc Edward Velasco and his deputy Henry Daut. Members of the PSC management committee, composed mainly of the agency’s department heads, were also present. (MS sports)