BINIGYANG-DIIN ng Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) ang kahalagahan ng pagbabalik-training ng mga Olympic qualifiers sa pagsalang ng PSC-GAB-DOH Stakeholders’ sa Virtual Meeting na hosted ng Department of Health (DOH) nung Huwebes.
Si PSC Officer-in-Charge Ramon Fernandez at National Training Director Marc Velasco ang nagrepresenta ng sports agency sa talakayan ng Joint Administrative Order Guidelines on the Conduct of Health-Enhancing Physical Activities and Sports sa kasagsagan ng Covid-19 pandemic.
Sa meeting na dinaluhan ni Games and Amusements Board (GAB) Chairman Baham Mitra, sports leaders of the Department of Education, professional sports league, colleges and universities, inilahad ng PSC heads ang kanilang solidong plano sa pagpapatuloy ng preparasyon para sa Tokyo-bound athletes.
“We are working towards the approval of the training of our national athletes who have earned their slots in the Games. We are hoping it gets the go-signal from the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) first,” pahayag ni Fernandez.
“The PSC discussed this with the POC (Philippine Olympic Committee). We still have to sit down with the PPC (Philippine Paralympic Committee). The POC will determine through their NSAs (National Sports Associations) who are coming for the Olympic slots and they will be the ones to return first or if possible, we can have them in a bubble,” pagpapaliwanag ni Velasco. Dagdag niya na ang PSC ay dapat na magtrabaho kasama ang POC, NSAs at ang team ni Dr. Randy Molo ng PSC’s Medical Scientific Ahtlete Services (MSAS) at tingnan ang guidelines at ang protocols para, “we can all have a good guide for the return to training. We’re preparing the venues as well.”
Sa pagbibigay-diin sa zero positive cases sa national athletes, ang PSC ay nagmumungkahi na ituloy ang training ng ating Olympic qualifiers pero dapat lang na sumunod sila sa standard health procedures.
“We did that with athletes who stayed here in Philsports. We facilitated their transit – since Metro Manila is high-risk and they are going to their low-risk provinces. So we did tests on them, but at the same time, we kept them in a bubble. Through that, we were able to guarantee that the athletes were not exposed, which is confirmed by the tests, and then we made sure that even their transport to the airport was controlled by PSC,” sabi ni Velasco.
Ang nasabing meeting para sa Joint Administrative Order (JAO) Guidelines ay upang iprepara at alamin sa stakeholders na siguruhin na na-cover nila ang kinakailangang public health standards for physical and sporting activities and allowable thresholds for professional and nonprofessional sports per risk severity area.
Ang guidelines ay pag-uusapan pa at puwedeng magkaroon ng kinakailangang pagbabago bago pa ito isumite sa IATF. (PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE)