A GOOD number of athletes, both foreign and domestic, had checked in at different billeting quarters because in a few days the 19th SEA Games opens at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.
Organizers say the opening ceremony promises to be a crowd-pleaser with the parade of the 11 participating nations led of course by the Philippines who had the largest delegation composed of 1,115 athletes and 753 coaches and officials.
Sen. Manny Pacquiao is expected to light the SEAG flame on the cauldron. Tickets to the opening ceremony are reportedly priced between P1,000 to P12,000, amounts that would surely wag the tongues of the intregeros and intiregeras on this part of the planet.
Some sectors had been critical of the billions of pesos spent for the hosting of the SEA Games that they would want to have a congressional inquiry. Expenses like the P1,600 pair of socks and the P6,200 Asics tracksuit among others.
It’s an ill-timed idea to have our horror-rables debate and argue on the issues while the Games are ongoing. Why? Because we would only be showing to the 10 other Southeast Asian nations the infatuation to grandstanding our lawmakers have. And with all the foreign news media covering the event, we could only be displaying disunity and mistrust to the world, as a sidelight to the games.
Let us enjoy the SEA Games for the moment. Our athletes need our support, whether they can reach the absurd 220 gold medal haul fantasized by the dreamy NSA heads or not.
It’s not every year that an international sporting event comes to our islands and it’s only natural that a host country will show to its guests the best it can offer – from a newly-built world-class athletics stadium and aquatics center, top-rated hotels, our tourist attractions, the renowned Filipino hospitality and of course, the notoriety of Metro Manila traffic.
When the flame of the Games had been extinguished, maybe the ladies and gentlemen tasked with crafting the laws of the land can then start with their squabble on the controversial kaldero, a kawiali, the takiure or whatever they want to argue related to the billions of pesos spent on the SEAG.
Yup, in the aid of legislation./PN
