Filipinos rejoiced when another Pinoy athlete, gymnast Carlos Yulo, won two gold medals in the recently concluded Olympic games in Paris, France in August this year. Previously, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz in 2020 won for the Philippines its first ever gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics. Gold medalists like Diaz and Yulo however had to seek financial support and specialized training abroad due to the lack of a supportive environment and the consistent neglect of the reactionary government, which has failed to provide adequate resources for Filipino athletes.
Since joining the Olympics in 1924 during the American imperialist occupation of the country, the Philippines has not figured prominently in any of its sporting events, despite Filipino athletes’, then and now, pouring out their very best to bring pride and honor to Filipinos and etch a name for themselves in sports.
While the Filipino people rightfully rejoice the honor brought by Yulo and Diaz, the Philippines’ recent gold wins in the Olympics, however, should not end in euphoria. Instead, it should bring to light once again the poor state of sports in the Philippines. It can be recalled how Diaz had to “crowdsource” financial support for her bid in Tokyo while pole vaulter EJ Obiena likewise lamented the lack of funding for his team.
This should provoke a serious assessment, not only of the drought in medal winnings since the country joined the Games, but more importantly, of the impoverished state of the Filipino athlete, the Filipino youth and the peoples’ health and welfare, in general. The poverty and backwardness in the Philippines are crucial factors to consider in this assessment.
The development of a comprehensive sports program for the well-being of the youth and students has never been a priority of the reactionary state whose funds are wasted on corruption. In the latest national budget proposal for 2025, the Philippine Sports Commission’s budget is set to be slashed to P725 million (US$12.5 million) in 2025 compared to its P1.156 billion (US$19.9 million) this year. Whatever measly funding the Philippine reactionary state provides to athletes are even corroded by bureaucratic corruption, with reports of sports officials redirecting the payroll and allowances of Filipino athletes into their bank accounts. Medalists in local and international sports events, who won mostly out of self-sacrifice, are awarded, recognized, and used as political trophies, while the non-medalists are relegated to the sidelines.
At the core of these challenges lies the absence of a comprehensive sports program that can nurture the talent of budding athletes at all levels. Compounding this issue is the reactionary government’s lopsided economic and social policies that favor big business and the handful of the elite compradors and landlords. The majority of the people on the other hand, the workers and peasants and the lower petty bourgeoisie from whose ranks should come the country’s potential athletes and sporting greats, are emaciated and malnourished, and left on their own for their economic survival.
It leaves no doubt that with the anti-people government setting the minimum food requirement to an incredible ₱64 (US$ 1.14) per day or ₱21.30 (US$ 0.38) per meal per person, the workers and peasants are consigned to a life of poverty. And with 14.2% of Filipino families experiencing involuntary hunger, it is an illusion for anyone from the ranks of the poor and marginalized to even enjoy a healthy life, much more dream of strength, speed and endurance. Sports and maintaining a healthy physical well-being have become elusive for the majority. Even reforming policies like integrating a sports development program in the commercialized, elite and fascist educational system is a lost cause under the present system, when about 11 million youth and children (according to the government’s own figures) are deprived of the opportunity to attend school and study.
Addressing social inequalities such as tackling the root causes of poverty, exploitation and marginalization that hinder young people from reaching their full potential and becoming healthy and upright individuals and citizens is a political question that only revolutionary change can address.
As we ponder on the honor and pride concomitant with achieving sports excellence and on the unadulterated capitalist-free values of the Olympic spirit of before, let us not forget that the utmost concern of Filipino workers and peasants is not who will deliver, or where to get, the next medal, but where to find their next meal.
