Project Gintong Alay or Gintong Alay () was a national

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

program of the

Philippine government The Government of the Philippines ( fil, Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas) has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative and d ...

launched under the administration of President

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...

History

Establishment

In Letter of Instructions No. 955 dated October 31, 1979, primarily issued to the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and the

Philippine Olympic Committee The Philippine Olympic Committee Inc. (POC) is the National Olympic Committee of the Philippines. The POC is a private, non-governmental organization composed of and serve as the mother organization of all National Sports Associations (NSAs) i ...

, President

instructed the creation of a national sports program to develop

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athletes. On November 8, 1979, Marcos issued Proclamation No. 1922 which authorized Gintong Alay to conduct an educational and fund campaign to aid in the generation of funds for the project and on May 2, 1980, to expand the scope of the project to include 17 other sports. On August 16, 1980, all donations, bequests and gifts to the sports program were exempted from tax.

1986 disbandment

Following the ouster of President Marcos due to the

People Power Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...

in February 1986, the Gintong Alay program was effectively ended.

Revival and later succession by the PSC

In 1987, the program was revived albeit in a smaller scale to prepare and train the Philippine delegate which participated at the

1987 Southeast Asian Games The 1987 Southeast Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia Tenggara 1987), officially known as the 14th Southeast Asian Games, was a multi-sport event held in Jakarta, Indonesia from 9 to 20 September 1987 with 30 sports featured in the games. T ...

. Gintong Alay would be later replaced with the

Philippine Sports Commission The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC, ) is an agency of the Philippine government which tackles matters concerning sports in the country. The sports agency is independent from the Philippine Olympic Committee which enjoys autonomy from the gov ...

(PSC) which was established in 1990.

Leadership

The Gintong Alay Project was led by the Executive Director, the first executive director was

Michael Marcos Keon Michael Edward Marcos Keon (born September 22, 1954) is a Filipino politician. Keon is the son of Australian journalist Michael James Keon and Elizabeth E. Marcos-Keon, governor of Ilocos Norte from 1971 to 1983 and the nephew of former Phili ...

from the project's establishment until the first halt of the project following the

. Keon was also simultaneously the president of the

Joey Romasanta Jose A. "Joey" Romasanta (born August 26, 1944) was the 11th president of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), the country's highest olympic body. He is also the president of Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. (LVPI), the official NSA for Vol ...

led Gintong Alay, after its revival in 1987. Arturo "Bong" Iligan later served as executive director.

Legacy

Gintong Alay set up a strong foundation in Philippine sports. According to former Executive Director,

, the succeeding officials after him were able to continue the momentum made by the Gintong Alay project citing the overall performance of the Philippines at the

1991 Southeast Asian Games The 1991 Southeast Asian Games, officially known as the 16th Southeast Asian Games, was a multi-sport event held in Manila, the Philippines from 24 November to 3 December 1991, with 28 sports featured in the games. This was the second time that ...

where the country won 91 gold medal-only one medal short from becoming the overall champions. However Keon, said from 1991, Philippine sports went downhill despite continued breaking of national records in measurable sports by Filipino athletes and said that other Southeast Asian and Asian countries are improving in sports more rapidly. He cited the '' palakasan'' system, ''bata-bata'' ( favouritism), and politicking as hindrance to development in Philippine sports. The initiative led to the Philippines in winning in international competitions especially in

in the 1980s. During the program's tenure, Keon discovered

Lydia de Vega Maria Lydia de Vega-Mercado (; December 26, 1964 – August 10, 2022) was a Filipina athlete who was considered Asia's fastest woman in the 1980s. Athletic career De Vega was discovered in the Palarong Pambansa () in the 1970s, and was recrui ...

, eventually she became the "Asia's Sprint Queen" and

Isidro del Prado Isidro del Prado (born May 15, 1959) is a two-time Filipino Olympian. He holds the 400m Philippine records in athletics. He once held the 200m record which was broken in 2007 by Ralph Waldy Soguilon, a 100m and 200m Sprinter. Del Prado is one ...

, a two-time Olympian in track and field. Under Ferdinand Marcos, the Philippines was always within the top three at the overall standing of the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

(2nd in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

, 3rd in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

and

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

)However the country's performance went plummeted the next editions finishing 5th ahead only of Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, and Brunei, which were considered minnows during that time and only receiving two brief success in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

when the country managed to become overall champions of the regional tournament and finishing 2nd in 1991; both success were from editions hosted by the nation.

References

{{The Marcoses Sports in the Philippines Government programs Presidency of Ferdinand Marcos