Senate ratifies bicam report on establishment of a nat’l sports academy

The Senate building in Pasay. (Philippine Daily Inquirer file photo)

MANILA, Philippines — A measure seeking to establish a National Academy of Sports (NAS) that will boost the development of sports in the Philippines and to develop world-class Filipino athletes is now a step closer to becoming a law.

This after the Senate on Monday ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the disagreeing provisions of Senate Bill No. 1086 and House Bill No. 6312 seen to institutionalize an educational system within the framework of a national sustainable sports program.

After the ratification by both houses of Congress, the bill will  transmitted to the President for signature.

“The Senate and the House panels have met and discussed to work out a reconciled version of our respective bills. We have come up with a legislation that will create and establish a National Academy of Sports to train and develop future generations of world champion Filipino athletes,” Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the basic education, arts and culture committee, said in speech.

“This is a high school that will give our students a quality and enhanced secondary education program, integrated with a special curriculum on sports. Our students will be housed and trained in world class sports facilities which are at par with international standards,” he added.

According to Gatchalian, the creation of the NAS will institutionalize mechanisms, fundamentals, and government support to instill excellence among Filipino athletes.

“We want to support aspiring athletes at the earliest possible opportunities so we would look for those who have the potential and train them in world-class facilities,” he added.

Once enacted into law, the main campus of the NAS will be established at the existing New Clark City Sports Complex in Capas, Tarlac and will be constructed by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).

It would also mandate the organization of future nationally-funded regional high schools for sports.

The NAS, Gatchalian noted, will be attached to the to the Department of Education (DepEd) together with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

The incumbent DepEd secretary will be the chairperson of the academy’s Board of Trustees while an executive director, as appointed by the DepEd chief and preferably someone who hails from the field of sports, will head the NAS and will be responsible for the academy’s administration and operation.

JPV