In keeping with the International Football Federation's mandate to promote and popularize "the beautiful game" in the remotest corners of the world, the Philippine Football Federation has decided to expand the number of regional associations during its Extraordinary Congress at the Century Park Hotel last November 13.

"We have increased the regional associations from 11 to 23 in Luzon and five to eight in the Visayas, while the regional associations in Mindanao remains at 17," said PFF Mariano Araneta Jr. shortly before he went to attend the FIFA World Cup in Doha, Qatar that kicked off over the weekend.

"This is a good development since with the increased numbers because hopefuls from Cavite and Batangas can now apply for regional membership unlike the present where they under the Laguna FA now," Araneta added of the expansion.

"Also you have the Northern Luzon association under Cordillera while Tarlac, Pampanga and Zambales are under Central Luzon. Now each of their provinces with thriving football prorgrams can apply for separate membership," he said.

The PFF Congress, he added, also decided to subdivide the National Capital Region Football Association into "NCR South, NCR Central and NCR North," owing to its huge demographical area and population density.

"Considering the number of population and the geographical area covered by the territories, everybody saw the need to add more regional football associations so that the promotion and development of football will reach a wider scope in an effective manner," explained PFF general secretary Atty. Ed Gastanes of the move.

"These area we have identified all have facilities and stadium that can be used for football development. We may have to look for sponsors to provide for their respective budgets, although FIFA has announced that it is increasing the budget of member federations to 20 percent next year," Araneta, who is a member of the world football body's Executive Board, said.

PFF vice-president Joselito Pinol that prospective members will be screened thoroughly by a committee formed by the PFF and meet the proper requirements before they can become full-pledged members.

"These prospective organizations must undergo a process, including registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission, before they can be considered for membership. I believe it will take between six months to a year before their applications will be fully approved," Pinol, who heads the Mt. Apo Regional Football Association in Mindanao, said.

"The PFF membership is not automatic. You need quality memers, organization-wise and membership-wise. We promised (the prospective members) to be with their walk step-by-step," Gastanes said.

Cagayan de Oro FA head Ismael Batiles that the expansion move met with unanimous approval by the PFF membership after it was discussed the previous day during the PFF Board of Governors meeting.

Palami, who leqdds the Eastern Visayas Football Association that includes Leyte and Samar, was in full support of the decision and the rationale behind it.

"This will benefit Eastern Visayas because right now our FA is based in Leyte and when their are activities in Samar, for example, it takes us 9 hours (by land) to reach Northern Samar," Palami pointed out "It is unfair for them to be creating all of these activities and then we are the regional FA cannot respond properly to all these requests being made by all the different clubs in Samar.

"So the RFAs will be able to focus more where they can reach more people. For me eventually the simple question that has been raised in this particular Congress is - would it help the existing RFAs if we were to add more areas that are not being covered right now. So this is a welcome development."

The man largely credited for the success of the Azkals in international play said that "the existing RFAs should be there to guide them. This expansion, after all, is the product of the activities of these football clubs that are hardly addressed by the present RFAs for different reasons.

"For as long as we focus on the main issue of promoting football. I see no reason why an FA should disagree."