As he steps down, Ramirez says he is ready for fresh term if needed

FILE – PSC Chairman Butch Ramirez. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Philippine Sports Commission Chair (PSC) William “Butch” Ramirez said on Monday that he is willing to go through another six years in his office if entrusted with the job by the incoming administration.

“It’s really time to go,” Ramirez said as he led the PSC’s flag-raising ceremony one last time on Monday. “But without pretensions, if the [new] president and the executive secretary offer me the position to be retained, I’ll be honored to accept it.’’

Combining political and financial acuity with his affinity for athletes, Ramirez turned the PSC into one of the vital cogs that led to the Philippines ending its near-century gold medal drought in the Olympics via Hidilyn Diaz’s victory in Tokyo last year. He had a solid set of commissioners who performed their tasks mostly under the limelight: basketball legend Ramon Fernandez, Charles Maxey, Celia Kiram and Arnold Agustin.

And he wants a shot at making sure the gains made under the latest of his two terms at the helm of the sports funding agency won’t go to waste.

“[G]iven the opportunity to serve again by the president for the country, I will run Philippine sports more efficiently,’’ said Ramirez, who served as PSC chair under the administrations of President Duterte and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

His name, an Inquirer source said, was among those forwarded to President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez.

“We are prepared to brief the incoming chairman and board of the PSC and ready for the transition,’’ said Ramirez, who will officially step down as chief of the government sports agency on Thursday during the inauguration of President Marcos.

In his latest six-year term as PSC chief, Ramirez also took on lesser heralded yet meaningful projects like the PSC Children’s Games, which earned plaudits from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. INQ