House panel approves Anti-Doping in Sports bill

The House Committee on Youth and Sports Development on Tuesday approved the proposed Anti-Doping in Sports Act.

The proposed measure under House Bill 7927 provides for the establishment of a national anti-doping policy in sports in compliance with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and International Convention Against Doping in Sports, as well as creates the Philippine National Anti-Doping Organization (PH-NADO).

In addition, the bill deems the following acts committed by athletes, athlete support personnel, sports federations, or sports organizations as anti-doping violations:

• presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen;
• use or attempted use of a prohibited substance or method;
• refusal or failure, without compelling justification, to submit to sample collection after notification as authorized in terms of applicable anti-doping rules or otherwise evading sample collection
• violation of applicable requirements regarding athlete availability for out-of-competition testing, including failure to provide required whereabouts information and missed tests which are declared based on reasonable rules;
• tampering, or attempting to tamper, with any part of doping control;
• possession of prohibited substances and methods;
• trafficking in any prohibited substance or method;
• administration or attempted administration of a prohibited substance or method to any athlete, or assisting, encouraging, aiding, abetting, covering up, or any other type of complicity involving an anti-doping rule violation or any attempted violation; and
• violation of any provision of this Act, PH-NADO Anti-Doping Rules, the Code, and Convention, and their amendments.

House Bill 7927 also states that any athlete, athlete support personnel, NSA, sports association/organization/club found to have committed anti-doping violations, will be punished in terms of the applicable provisions of the Code and the PH-NADO Rules, including but not limited to:

• disqualification wherein the results in a particular competition or event are invalidated, with all resulting consequences including forfeiture of medals, points, and prizes;
• ineligibility, meaning barred for a specified period of time (temporary or perpetual) from participating in any competition or other activity, withholding of financial support and access to sporting facilities;
• provisional suspension or barred temporarily from participating in any competition before a final decision, and
• fine amounting to P100,000 to P1 million.

“The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports has been a big concern not only of the Philippines but all international sports governing bodies. They have enacted measures to ensure that athletes stay clean and the competition is fair. However, there are still instances when athletes have been found to have used performance-enhancing drugs or have taken banned substances whether knowingly or not,” Rodriguez said.

“This is why we need an organization that will work towards combating and preventing doping in all international and national-level sports; testing for prohibited substances and methods, and penalizing violations. This will ensure the country’s full participation in all international competitions,” Rodriguez added.

Under the bill, the PH-NADO has the following mandate:

• promote participation in sport, free from doping to protect the health and well-being of competitors and the rights of all persons who take part in sport;
• set procedure for adopting testing methods, establishment of registered testing pools, sample collection, accreditation of testing laboratories, standards to be maintained by testing laboratories based on the Code of International Standards for testing laboratories, among others;
• set procedure for analysis of samples, and results management;
• specify anti-doping rules applicable and consequences of anti­ doping rule violation, as well as procedures applicable in relation to negative analytical findings and adverse analytical findings and principles governing provisional suspension of an athlete;
• set procedures for re-entry of a banned athlete;
• set procedures for providing access to independent observers;
• set procedures in relation to in-competition testing and out-of-competition testing of athletes;
• create awareness to discourage the practice of doping in sport among the public and the sporting community in particular;
• use World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratories for analysis of samples and other required specimens;
• carry out investigations in matters of doping in sports;
• provide information to athletes, athlete support personnel on the procedures for, and developments concerning the collection and testing of samples following the code and any standards developed by WADA;
• maintain the whereabouts register and a registered testing pool in accordance with the code;
• prosecute anti-doping offenses, among others.

Likewise, the proposed measure does not require the consent of any person or authority for the conduct of any PH-NADO investigation or imposition of any administrative sanctions.

The PH-NADO Board will be composed of the following:

• chairperson of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) as Chairperson;
• Secretary of the Department of Health (DOH);
• Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd);
• Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED);
• President of the Games and Amusement Board (GAB);
• Chairperson and President of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC);
• three representatives distinguished in the field of law, sports medicine, and sports science.

Within 30 days of the bill’s enactment into law, the members of the Board from the private sector will be appointed by the President of the Philippines from a list of three nominees submitted by the other members of the Board.

These nominees from the private sector, however, cannot include the following:

• a member of or an official of a National Sports Association (NSA),
• a person employed by or is associated with any person who supplies goods or services to the PH-NADO or whose spouse or family member is so employed or associated, and
• an athlete; athlete support personnel; or an official of a sports organization, sports club, or sports federation.

Members representing the private sector of the Board will serve a term of three years. — DVM, GMA Integrated News