PHISGOC: SEA Games fever should be felt in June or July

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
EIGHT months away from the country’s hosting of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, conspicuously missing is the buzz usually generated by such events.
Local organizers, however, are not too bothered by it as it is something they were somehow expecting in light of the circumstances preparations are in even as they said that they see SEA Games fever to pick by the middle of the year.
Speaking to members of media in a press conference at the weekend, Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC) chairman Alan Peter Cayetano said the while it is true that compared to previous SEA Games hosting of the Philippines — in 1991 and 2005 — this year’s edition has not received much noise at this point of the lead-up, they are not pushing the panic button yet, recognizing that a lot of things have contributed to it, which they hope to be able to address as the preparations progress.
“The SEA Games fever should be felt by June, or the latest July, because of the circumstances we’re in. Number one, we started late. Second there is the national election. Third, we want to focus on the training our athletes,” said Mr. Cayetano, the former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
“Part of drumming up support is the training of our athletes. We have a program where in people can follow the progress of our athletes through social media. Unfortunately the training budget for many of the national sports associations has not been approved, But it is not with PHISGOC but with the PSC (Philippine Sports Commission). But the regular training budget had been approved but since it is a competition year there are additional training costs. That is why I had to meet with Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.) and DBM (Department of Budget and Management), and eventually with the PSC because they said there is money for it,” he added.
Mr. Cayetano and other PHISGOC officials, during the press conference, allayed fears that the country’s hosting of the SEA Games would not push through amid talk and reports that preparations are progressing slowly, not to the liking of the SEA Games Federation Council.
“We will continue to host the SEA Games. There is no truth to reports of the contrary,” the PHISGOC chairman reiterated.
Adding, “Construction of major structures for the event is on track. And when we say on track we mean by September they will be ready, or two months before the hosting so our athletes can use them for training. Of course there are delays in construction but these are normal and we were assured that they will be completed on schedule.”
Mr. Cayetano went to say that they hope to have the original hosting budget of P7.5 billion be approved by Congress and released as soon as possible so they could pick things up.
“We are appealing to Congress. As soon as we can pass the budget the better for us and restore the amount that what was taken away from the budget. It’s hard to make a reduction in the middle of the preparation,” he said.
The PHISGOC originally proposed an itemized budget of P7.5 billion to the DBM.
It was approved by the DBM and the House of Representative but when it reached the Senate, the budget was slashed by one-third to P5 billion.
Incidentally, a pep rally for national athletes is set for today at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.