Proud watching SEAG in the boondocks of Mindanao

THE President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, did a little dancing ala “budots” to the cadence of songs, drums, and gongs while the Sultan of Brunei, His Majesty Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, clapped in awe amid the euphoria that defined the magnificent opening ceremonies of the 30th SEA Games. I watched the grand spectacle unfolding in living colors hundreds of miles away in Davao and I would give credit to ABS-CBN this time for telecasting the event without a single commercial from start to finish. This network has redeemed itself from faked news and photos that it failed to vet and bits of negativism that some of its anchorpersons are wont to do.

 

While we are certain that Southeast Asian nations are watching, we were told later that the SEA Games opening ceremonies topped the tallies of worldwide events in various social media platforms. I cannot quantify the costs, the man-hours and the trainings that go with the preparation of the opening rites and neither can I measure the immensity of the values that were derived from the event.

 

There were attempts to discredit the organizing committee headed by House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, the Philippine Sports Commission chaired by Butch Ramirez and the Bases Conversion Development Authority, Pres. Vince Dizon with an apparent agenda of embarrassing the Duterte government never minding whether it is the entire nation which will be subject to muck and pillory. The budget was delayed by bickerings of the opposition and then slashed by over P2-billion. Not content with that they made a big issue of the ₱50-million budget for the cauldron which the opposition Sen. Franklin Drilon simplistically preferred should have been spent for classrooms instead. I wished he could have said the same thing when the senators during the Aquino regime received ₱1-billion plus for the incentivized conviction of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona. In an apparent orchestration of black propaganda a slew of fake news, skewed and photo-shopped pictures and twisted commentaries were fed to domestic and international media and succeeded in tarnishing the image of the Philippines which earlier had been branded by Rappler's Maria Ressa as a “war zone”.

 

The Chairman of the Senate Sports Committee Christopher “Bong Go” did not relent or complain. Used to tackling problems under the tutelage of Duterte under whom he served as confidant and executive assistant for over 20 years, he knew how to tackle problems. The SEAG is not his baptism of fire. By his body language, something is telling us that the venues of the games were ready, the opening ceremonies will be grand and our athletes are well-primed.

 

In sum, the budget of ₱6-billion is in fact well-spent. The different venues of the games and events were ready and well-appreciated by the competing teams from 10 East Asian nations. Of course there were some kinks, molehills which were created into mountains by the usual critical media and the political oppositions who can neither see nor admit the glaring glory and success of the event. Me too have my own wish like the video on the large screen should have shown the many tourists sites in the country. But then that is beyond us now and rectifications can be done in the future in similar events. Be that as it may, in terms of tourism promotions and in truly depicting the image of the Philippines as a free and peaceful country, the budget is in fact too small in terms given what the country has reaped. Among the significant and indubitable gains moreover is that we have proven to the world that Philippines has the capability to host bigger sporting events and that the spirit of volunteerism or Bayanihan is still very much alive among us Filipinos.

 

By all indications, the Philippines is on the way to a bountiful golden harvests. The bonanza is unprecedented. Our athletes are well-motivated. I watched each victor as they wave and wrap themselves with the Philippine flag. Their love of country is etched on their faces telling us “we (can) win as one”!