Senator Rafael "Rafy" Santos Ortiz, chair of the Senate Youth, Recreation and Sports Committee, demanded that the Department of Recreation and Sports (DRD) and its secretary speed up payments, through the Treasury Department (Hacienda), to 57 team managers (apoderados), seven umpires and three umpire associations of the Class A Baseball Tournament. The debt totals about $80,870, accumulated since the end of the regular season.
Santos Ortiz said the delay contributed to the tournament being halted for two weeks and forced team managers to use their own money to cover umpiring for the last regular-series games. Although the tournament resumed last Sunday, the payments remain pending. Managers have told him by calls and text messages that they were informed of problems at Hacienda that have also delayed disbursements, and that none of them has been paid so far.
"The managers are desperate waiting for these payments. They have put money out of their own pockets to sustain the tournament and need a concrete answer," Santos Ortiz said, adding that he will keep up the demand until the debt is settled. After getting no response to his call to the secretary, the senator filed Senate Petition 2026-0126, which contains 27 information requests on the tournament’s budget, allocations and disbursements by team, pending debts, payment procedures and responsible officials.
It also requires contracts, financial reports and audits to oversee the use of public funds.