There is barely six months before the Southeast Asian Games is held in the country. The question is, are we ready?
There are two components of the SEA Games in the country. First is our hosting preparations and the other is the competition preparations.
The first one is handled by the Philippines Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee Foundation or Phisgoc Foundation and the participation side handled by the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Sports Commission.
Both are sailing on rough seas, so to speak. Needless to say, there is reason to be concerned on how things are going at the moment.
The hosting side is riddled with controversies primarily on the personality of the Phisgoc Foundation after it was incorporated and became another entity outside the Phisgoc which was the original body tasked with the hosting of the event. There are also some issues on the procurement of uniforms which appeared to be unreasonably exorbitant.
The second is the participation which went through some changes recently with PSC chairman William “Butch” Ramirez taking over as Chef de Mission of the Philippines’ participation.
The changes stemmed from the brewing trouble within the POC leadership and Ramirez had to step in with the proddings of the government leadership in order to “save” the country from a potential disastrous stint before the homecrowd.
Amidst all these, it is best that our sports officials get their acts together and set aside their differences for the sake of the country.
There is not much time left but we can still pull off some miracles and turn this negative situation into something that will not only save our hosting but make our investment for hosting the event into a rewarding venture—both in terms of sports tourism and economy, and in regaining our place as a force to reckon with in Asean sports.
