THE Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is practicing self-sufficiency this time as far as the country’s participation in the London Olympics is concerned.

The local Olympic body is forming a marketing arm that will generate needed funds for the Filipino athletes seeing action in the July 27 to August 12 event dubbed as the `Greatest Show On Earth.’

PH Team Chef de Mission Manny Lopez said the move was decided upon during the POC Executive Committee (Execom) meeting Wednesday, where also in attendance was Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Ritchie Garcia.

Garcia stressed though, that the government sports agency actually spent minimally when it concerns the country’s participation in the Olympics.

He said PSC money is actually being used more in terms of preparations by athletes who qualified to the Summer Games.

“Yung participation ng Team Philippines sa Olympics halos walang gastos ang PSC diyan, because usually it’s the IOC (International Olympic Committee) who takes care of it,” said Garcia. “Ang ginagastusan namin is yung preparation ng mga atleta natin like `yung training, exposure abroad, equipment, especially kung may mag-qualify na shooters dahil mahal yung mga bala at gamit nila.”

Based on past experiences, Garcia said the PSC allots P20 to P30 million for the training and preparation of Team Philippines, but added, “depende siyempre yan sa size ng delegation natin this year.”

As of now, only boxer Mark Anthony Barriga and long jumper Maristela Torres have been named as part of the Philippine delegation, although one more entry in athletics (male) and two from swimming (male and female) are still expected to join them.

“Both athletics and swimming are mandatory sports that’s why they are given a slot each in men’s and women’s events as automatic qualifiers,” Lopez added.

The POC Execom has named former PSC personnel Tats Suzara to head its marketing arm.

Outside of it, Lopez, also the vice-president of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP), said the POC is also availing of the financial help pledged by the London Olympic Games Organizing Committee to be used to subsidize the expenses of athletes competing in the event.

Lopez said subsidizing the expenses of the participating athletes had been one of the guarantees made by the host country when it bid to stage the Games.   

“When London was bidding to host the 20012 Games, one of its come-ons was that it will subsidize the participation of athletes from each country to the tune of 787 pounds each,” Lopez disclosed.

“We will also be availing of that subsidy, so that it will lessen our funding problem,” he said, adding that one other sources of funding that can be tapped is the Pre-Games Training Camp Fund being made available by the International Olympic Committee to all its member-countries.

“For the first time, the IOC is providing 25,000 pounds to each member country to avail of its subsidy. Magagamit pa din natin yun,” said the country’s Chef de Mission. “Kaya nga palagay namin sa POC, walang magiging problema kung tungkol din lang sa gagastusin natin sa participasyon sa London.

“Sayang nga, eh kung kailan pa naman may subsidy na ganito ay saka iilan lamang na atleta ang ating maipadadala,” he lamented.