If you don’t know where you have seen this statement in a big poster or big board, then you are not observant of what is around you when you are running. Have you seen this board? Where?

Let me go back again to the argument of my son why it is so important for the Philippines to have its First Olympic Gold Medal even if we have a Manny Pacquiao who is the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, moreso, after defeating the Olympic Gold Medalist Oscar De La Hoya. My son said that the Philippines does not need to win an Olympic Gold Medal in order for us to be known to the world, to promote our national pride, and remove the notion that we are the “goat” or “tail” among the ASEAN countries with regards to sports. The country must be proud that we have the best boxer in the world, the best billiard players in the world; and the best bowler in the world in four decades. I just said to my son that the pinnacle of a country’s sports program and ultimate “proof of success” is the Olympics Gold Medal or any medal from the Olympic Games won by a Filipino athlete.

On our quest to our first Olympic Gold Medal, do you think we are united towards this goal? My answer is NO. We may be united in praying to the Lord before our contingent competed in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and wishing them their best and even promising monetary rewards for every medal that our athletes would win…but we ended nothing. Prayers alone do not win battles. Now, here comes the sad part. Nobody is accepting responsibility for our failure to attain what the members of the official delegation had promised to the public. And nobody had accounted for the expenses they had incurred in the preparation and participation of the Philippine delegation to the 2008 Beijing Olympic.

For the past days, I’ve been reading news releases from the Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Sports Commission, and the different Sports Federation. There had been much “funfare” in the supposed election of new set of officers in the POC but in the end, the same officers before the 2008 Beijing Olympics were elected. These newly-elected officers of the POC promised reforms and better preparation for the 2012 London Olympics. Well, I don’t think so! What they accomplished for the past Olympic Games speaks what we expect from them for the next four years.

The Philippine Sports Commission, which is the government body supposed to finance and support the different Sports Federations, immediately conducted a conference-seminar among the stakeholders of sports in the country but it was not well-attended and represented by the different Sports Federations entire the country. However, right from the start of the seminar, all the participants knew already the problem in Philippine Sports—lack of unity of effort and financial support. The PSC is supposed to finance the different Sports Federations’ coaches, athletes, and their international exposure to include personal stipend and training expenses. The money is supposed to come from a certain percentage out of the income of PAGCOR and PCSO. But the problem is that, according to PSC, PAGCOR and PCSO are remiss in their duties to remit to the PSC the money intented for Sports.

The Sports Federations (PATAFA, PASA, TRAP, BAP and others) had their respective election of officers last December but the same officers had been elected for another four years. These are the same officials who went to 2008 Beijing Olympics whose athletes did not even reach to the semi-finals and have not yet cleared or accounted for the past financial support given by PSC to them for the past years. Some of these Sports Federations have also break-away groups that cause divisiveness among their coaches and players. Do you think these sports federations would be able to produce Olympic qualifiers for 2012? My answer again is NO!

Do you have any suggestions on how to unify us in the name of sports? Remember, Manny Pacquiao is only good for the next one to two years in boxing!!!  By that time, we still have two years to go before the 2012 London Olympic Games!