PH sports is a go for Sen. Bong Go
IF you ask Sen. Bong Go about his views on Philippine sports as I did, he would tell you that it is all systems go.
That is how positive his outlook is, and the good thing, he plays a major role in helping make it happen in real time, at least since he was voted a senator in 2019 and the Senate Committee on Sports fell into his lap.
And that is how I got the opportunity to have a one on one with him at his Senate office last Monday.
This was after the Senate committee hearing that he presided over to review the 2025 budget proposals of both the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Games and Amusements Board (GAB).
During the hearing, I got to know more about Sen. Bong and his passion for sports both as an athlete and an ordinary sports fan. Yes, he plays competitive basketball and related he was in the Mythical 5 selection for the 40 and above category in the UNTV tournament where Senate fields a team regularly.
He met tournament director Atoy Co, one of his basketball idols, who also gave him pointers on his shot selection, according to the Senator.
As a basketball fan in the 80’s and up, the good Senator recalled the times he used to commute from Kamias, Kamuning all the way to ULTRA as Philsports was called then, remembering Great Taste and Gilbey’s Gin games, among others.
Fast forward to the present, he added that when he got a chance to play in ULTRA, he was saddened to see it was leaking, and thus, his push to provide additional infrastructure funds to the PSC.
Which is why he was happy to see Comm. Fritz Gaston at the hearing, even describing the latter as a heady point guard during his heydays in the pro league. H3 also cited PSC Chairman Richard Bachmann as a player of Alaska.
What I liked about him during the hearing was his straight forward of asking questions whether with any of the resource persons from the the PSC, GAB , even the Department of Budget Management( DBM).
He even voiced out his observation about the fact that the budget for Philippine sports remains small in relation to the national budget, showibg his heart really is with sports.
Sen. Bong considers himself fortunate that during his term as committee on sports chairman, the Philippines won medals in the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games.
Two golds from Caloy Yulo in gymnastics, and another gold in 2020 by Hidilyn Diaz in weightlifting in Tokyo, .then add to this the silver medals by Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio, also in Tokyo and 3 bronze medals from Eumir Marcial in Tokyo, and again Petecio and newcomer Aira Villegas this year, all from boxing.
It was after the hearing though , by the way, he did announce that the proposed budgets by the two agencies passed the committee level and will be endorsed for final approval in a plenary hearing , that with the help of Fritz, Sen. Bong agreed to a short interview at his office.
So when we went up to his office, the first question I posed was his view of Philippine sports and he was very positive about his outlook, saying we could duplicate, even surpass what has been accomplished in the future, citing EJ Obiena and Caloy as still medal prospects in 2028.
But he emphasized the need for more active collaboration between the country’s primary stakeholders, the PSC, the Philippine Olympic Committee( POC), the National Sports Association( NSA’s), even the Department of Education( DepEd), Local Government Units( LGU’s), and the private sector.
He also agreed that sports should be prioritized as part of prudent fund management to ensure that funds are properly managed and will benefit sports and the athletes directly.
In the end, he assured the PSC that he will be behind them as far as the legislative part of the process.
And that to is enough to convince me that he deserves another term in office and continue his part in helping Philippine sports get to the next level, but with a coordinated and massive effort on the part of all stakeholders.
