DID I speak too soon? After writing about how we should forget about our differences and just focus on a successful hosting of the Southeast Asian Games, reports coming out from Indonesia and Thailand are saying that the Philippines could lose its hosting gig next month.
The reports, which cite sources in the Southeast Asian Games Federation Council, indicate the funding problem the Philippines is facing for the biennial meet, which will be staged later this year.
As to where, we will know in a month.
The funding problem is quite complicated. The organizers are asking for P7.5 billion for the games but the national budget, as we all know, hasn’t been passed yet and we’ve been operating on a re-enacted budget.
Then there’s the question on which entity should hold the purse strings. In the previous hosting, the Philippine SEAG Organizing Committee (Philsoc), handled the funds but right now, the anti-Ricky Vargas are saying that this year’s Philsoc doesn’t have a legal identity.
Yep, factionism is rife in the Philippine Olympic Committee. What else is new?
This hosting gig has been rife with trouble from the start, From the time when organizers unveiled their much ballyhooed logo up to reports of delays in the construction of the venue. Some national sports association (NSA) heads aren’t also happy with the venues for their events.
But I hope there is still time to iron out the differences so it won’t have to come to a cancellation.
Sure, there have been hosts who backed out of the games. Remember, Brunei backed out from hosting this but that was four years ago. No host has ever backed out with only eight months to go.
Indonesia, which hosted last year’s Asian Games, is ready to step in as host since it already has the facilities.
How embarrassing if it has to come to that. We’d be the first ever country to have to cancel hosting the games with only eight months to spare. Doubly embarrassing is that we volunteered to host this back in 2015, when Brunei backed out.
I can just feel our Asean neighbors sneer, “Why volunteer for something you are not capable of doing?”