POC to appeal 2019 hosting

Hopes Du30 changes mind on 30th SEAG

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is not losing hope that despite the Mindanao crisis, the country will manage to host the 30th Southeast Asian Games in 2019.

The POC is hoping that President Duterte will have a change of heart.

“The POC move is to convene the general assembly and appeal to the President,” said POC secretary-general Steve Hontiveros in a press statement yesterday.

Hontiveros said the POC board, led by its president, Jose Cojuangco, will sit down tomorrow at 10 a.m., preceding the general assembly at noon at Wack Wack in Mandaluyong.

The POC had hoped to host the 2019 SEA Games, and duplicate the successful 2005 hosting that led the country to its first overall title in SEA Games history.

Plans were afoot to host events in Davao City, the President’s hometown, and this being the 30th SEA Games jives well with the famous “Du30” pitch.

But President Duterte, through Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William Ramirez, announced last week that it’s not the best time for the country to host the biennial event.

The ongoing Mindanao crisis, and the damage it had brought to the city of Marawi, stood as the main reason why Malacañang decided to decline the hosting.

The government is confident that the Marawi crisis will soon end, but the sentiment is that it would rather spend money on rehabilitating Mindanao than hosting the 11-nation sports meet.

“Importante ba talaga ito (Is this that important?)?” was the question raised by the President regarding the SEAG hosting, according to a ranking sports official who requested anonymity.

The SEA Games hosting will easily cost hundreds of million of pesos or even a couple of billion if new sports venues and facilities will be put up.

The POC said Indonesia and Thailand have shown interest in taking over as host once the POC formally informs the SEA Games Federation that is it backing out of the commitment.

Indonesia, a POC insider said, may have the upperhand because the country will also host the 2018 Asian Games, meaning everything is already in place.

“But they have to bid now,” said Hontiveros.

The 29th SEA Games will be hosted by Malaysia from Aug. 19 to 31, and normally, a turnover from the previous host to the next host becomes the highlight of the closing ceremony.

“The program in Malaysia is done for the closing. Nasira (It’s in disarray). It could be the first time that there will be no turnover (of hosts),” said Hontiveros.

The long-time POC official added that all is not lost as long as the President says so.

“As long as we have the President’s approval,” he said, adding that they have been in touch with the Malaysian organizers since the PSC chairman made the announcement last week.

So far, there are no reports of any of the SEA Games member countries airing security concern coming over to the Philippines for the 2019 SEA Games in spite of the Mindanao crisis.

Pushing through with the hosting, according to Hontiveros, will give the country the chance to show “that there is no problem (in peace and order).”

But without the Malacañang’s stamp of approval, it may be a futile effort to host the SEA Games because such hosting would entail the full support of certain government agencies like the LGUs (local government units) hosting events, the Philippine National Police for security, and customs and immigration for the thousands of foreign delegates as well as the equipment coming in, among others.