MANILA, Philippines — Boxing and taekwondo, sports that already enjoy huge financial support from Smart and PLDT chairman Manny V. Pangilinan, got an additional monetary boost after its top athletes were selected as recipients of a planned major improvement program by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

The two disciplines were among 10 chosen as priority sports that will receive a big pie from the P145 million allocated by the PSC for the program which is being initiated after another debacle at the Southeast Asian Games last November.

Being priority sports, boxing and taekwondo will be granted P15 million each this year for use of their athletes to train and participate in foreign competitions.

PSC chair Richie Garcia disclosed the new thrust of the PSC during yesterday's general assembly. He hopes the program will eventually produce world class athletes which the country sorely lacks.

In all, the PSC has a budget of P445 million for the year, slightly higher than last year’s budget of P370 million. The rest of the money will be spent for operations and supporting other sports associations.

Athletics and swimming, which in the past were a rich source of SEA Games medals but a big disappointment in Indonesia last November, will be given P12 million each to restart their program. Also getting P12 million is wushu.

Other priority sports and their allocations are archery (P10 million), wrestling (P10 million), bowling (P8 million), weightlifting (P8 million), and billiards (P6 million).

"The target of these priority sports is to win medals in the Olympics and Asian Games, to perform better in the Southeast Asian Games and to develop world-class athletes," said PSC commissioner Gomez who also briefed the press Thursday.

In determining the priority sports, the PSC took into consideration the Filipino physical characteristics, individual sports, mass-based sports/grassroots program, national sports association leadership, past performance/potentials for winning tournaments and medal-rich sports in naming the priority sports.

Aside from choosing the priority sports, the PSC also categorized the remaining disciplines into rebuilding sports (25 NSAs) and other sports (22 NSAs), with total alloted budgets of P85 million and P17 million, respectively. Athletes selected from among the top priority sports will be asked to devote most of their time to training. They will also be given monthly stipends of P40,000 (gold winners), P30,000 (silver) and P25,000 (bronze).

"It's something that should be done. We will be giving monthly allowances that are rated for full-time athletes and we should expect them to train full-time. But this can be optional. If they couldn't go full-time, then yung allowance nila hindi rin pang full-time," Garcia explained.