DON'T be too reliant on Filipino-foreign athletes. Focus the resources on scouting and developing homegrown talents who could be sent to international competitions, instead.

This is the type of action that former Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Michael Keon wants the current POC administration as well as the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to take.

"I have a bit of an issue with the fact that the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee tend to look for talent overseas. I feel that's to the detriment of building up local talents, and there's so much talent here in the Philippines. I know because I was there [developing local talents]," said Keon.

Keon, who headed POC from 1981 to 1984, cited the Gintong Alay program, which he also led from 1979 to 1986 as an example of what he's trying to say.

The now Laoag City mayor said that Gintong Alay managed to produce legendary Filipino athletes such Lydia de Vega, Isidro del Prado, Hector Begeo and Elma Muros through local talent scouting and identification.

"We created Lydia de Vega, Isidro del Prado, Hector Begeo and Elma Muros, these were all local Filipino athletes. They weren't living and training overseas, and then because of their Filipino ancestry, suddenly reverted to Philippine citizenship and represented the Philippines [in international tournaments].

"That's why talent scouting is very important, and when [Dickie] Bachmann was appointed as the PSC chairman, he came to me in Ilocos, and he asked me for advice, and I said you have to have training camps, and you have to look for talents locally. You have to really develop talent scouts because this country has so much talent. We don't have to look overseas."

Keon made these comments at the height of the just concluded 64th Palarong Pambansa (National Games) in Cebu, where he made it clear that he's not against the idea of flying in Fil-foreign talents but just the "too much" reliance on it.

Focusing on finding foreign talents instead of scouting and developing a homegrown one, Keon added, just hurts the local talents' chances of getting out of poverty, especially in a Third World country where sports can really be a tool to rise up the economic ranks.

"Sports is a way for people to rise up the economic ladder, and it's a shame for local talents because a lot of local talents are being neglected. Imagine, they fly everyone in from overseas in order to participate, and they're not really concentrating on looking at local talents and building up ... they should have training centers in all the regions which is something that Lito Cinco and Fritz Gaston are trying to do. That's just my observation.

"I understand that. I'm not against it. The whole world is using foreign talents, even Qatar got so many Kenyans to represent them. That's happening, and I understand that to a certain extent, but I'm just saying that because of Gintong Alay and because of running sports in Ilocos Norte and participating in all of Palaro's and also in the Mindanao Games, and all the different Games. I saw so much talent which was not utilized, and so much talent falls into the cracks of the system. That's my issue."

Keon also denounced the "bata-bata" system that robs spots from the athletes who deserve to get in.

"The problem in the Philippines is the 'bata-bata' system, that's the problem, sometimes it's who you know and coaches have the tendency to do that sometimes. Talent identification has to be done in a very rigorous manner, and it has to be very open and very transparent. It's not who you know, it's what you do. That's what's important."