By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

THE CORONAVIRUS disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has thrown a curveball to the Philippines’ Olympic Games push but the agency representing the country to the sporting meet reiterated its commitment to continue to backstop the Filipino athletes in their quest.

Among the Philippine Olympic Committee’s (POC) reassurances is lobbying for local sports to be among those to be prioritized should a vaccine for COVID-19 be available, particularly those going to compete in the rescheduled Tokyo Olympic Games next year.

“Definitely there should be an allocation there [for the vaccine]. I will personally fight that sports get some priority because of the Olympics,” POC President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino shared during his online session at the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday.

“Right now there are still no guidelines for that but we can (definitely) lobby for that because of the Olympics, after all those availing of that (vaccine) would not be a lot based on the number of delegates and those who have qualified. We would continue to look after our athletes,” added Mr. Tolentino, also the chief of the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines (PhilCycling) and a sitting congressman from the eight district of Cavite.

The Tokyo Games was supposed to take place from July to August this year but was moved to next year as COVID-19 remains to be a going concern worldwide.

To date, the Philippines is assured of at least four athlete-representatives in the Games, namely, pole vaulter EJ Obiena, gymnast Carlos Yulo and boxers Eumir Felix Marcial and Irish Magno, with many others still looking to join them in the various qualifying events.

The POC president said they are hoping that the Tokyo Games pushes through after being postponed this year so as not to have the athletes’ efforts go to waste, but admits a lot of things still need to happen for the successful staging of the Olympics to be a reality.

“The postponement was a huge blow. We cannot afford to have another delay because it would mean its cancellation altogether,” the POC chief said.

ALLOWANCE
Meanwhile, Mr. Tolentino also shared that he laments the recent decision by the Philippine Sports Commision (PSC) to slash by half the allowance of national athletes in light of the COVID-19 situation.

While he said he understands where the PSC is coming from in its decision as government priorities are being channelled to the fight against COVID-19, and resources rendered limited because of the pandemic, still he believes other options could have been taken, including having sports assistance be included in the “Bayanihan Act” geared towards combating the impact of COVID-19 across various sectors.

“Had I been told earlier, we could have added it to our recommendation to the government to also help sports,” said Mr. Tolentino.

He, nonetheless, expressed being one with the PSC in hoping that the monthly stipend of national team members be restored to its normal level just as he vowed to help in finding ways to augment the budget for the athletes, including having the leaders of national sports associations serve as “godfathers” to their own athletes and coaches.

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