Thursday, July 17, 2008

PSC hits out at Bacolod Softball Execs

PSC hits out at Bacolod Softball Execs

By June Navarro
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:59:00 07/15/2008

MANILA, Philippines—At some point, the problems hounding the Little League teams trying to qualify for the World Series have to stop.

Philippine Sports Commission chair William Ramirez stressed this Monday as he warned Bacolod softball officials that organizational woes would turn off sponsors in the future.

The three Bacolod teams which won their respective division titles in the recent Asia-Pacific girls softball championships in Guang-zhou, China, were nearly deported after failing to come up with the $3,000 (P135,000) registration fee for each team.

“There must be something wrong with the way the officials handled the situation,” said Ramirez, who went to Guangzhou to settle the registration fees of the teams. “They should organize everything properly because if these problems continue, sponsors will shy away.”

Ramirez said the PSC had alloted P250,000 to each team for airfare but no allowances were given as no one requested such.

At least 15 people were later found to have joined the 60-man Bacolod delegation as tourists after posing as officials and coaches.

“What kind of experience are the children going to get from that journey? I hope it will not happen again in the future,” said Ramirez.