MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) on Wednesday announced that it will implement "belt-tightening measures" to ensure that it can keep its commitment to continue supporting the members of the national team.

This, after the directives of the Department of Budget Management (DBM) on projects that will be discontinued, and the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases prohibited activities even beyond the enhanced community quarantine.

First among those measures is to cancel all sports activities until December this year, in compliance with the IATF directives.

The board has also decided to withdraw further financial support to the 10th ASEAN Paragames, which has now been postponed twice.

The PSC will still honor its previous commitments with the ASEAN Paragames Organizing Committee to cover initial operations expenses.

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"We heed the call of the national government to cut expenses, as we re-route the majority of our resources to fighting the pandemic," said PSC chairman William "Butch" Ramirez in a statement. "But we also stand by our commitment to keep supporting members of the national team."

Ramirez further announced that there is a status quo on the allowance releases for national athletes and coaches, and thanked PAGCOR for its steady remittances to the agency.

Given the lockdown, however, PAGCOR's income has been greatly affected, and shall likely impact its subsequent remittances to the PSC.

"We continue to study projections and proposals, and the board is ready to take necessary actions should they be needed," Ramirez assured.

The PSC's top officials, led by Ramirez, held a virtual board meeting on Wednesday to discuss the ways and means that they can meet the outstanding commitments of the agency.

Commissioners Celia Kiram, Ramon Fernandez, Arnold Agustin and Charles Maxey joined Ramirez along with executive director Merly Ibay, deputy executive directors Dennis Rivera and Atty. Guillermo Iroy, as well as chief of staff Marc Velasco.

(For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website).