Pampanga perfect venue for 2005 SEA Games

An ambitious plan that could make Pampanga the center of Philippine sports is in the offing. And if plans push through, the President’s home province could well be the site of the 22nd Southeast Asian Games the country is hosting in 2005.

Yeng Guiao, a noted sports figure and board member of the Central Luzon province, yesterday laid out this plan during the PSA Sports Forum at the Holiday Inn Hotel as he pointed to the vast area of Clark Field as a perfect venue for modern, high-standard sports facilities.

But to achieve this goal, the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, a 67-year-old, 12-hectare property owned by the City of Manila, will first have to be sold with the income generated to be used for the Clark project.

How the initiators of the plan could forge an agreement with Manila officials, however, remains the biggest question. And one of the options, according to Guiao, could be a land swap between Manila and the national government.

"Of course, we need the political will to do something like this. Our vice-governor, Mikey Arroyo, has promised to bring up the matter to President Arroyo herself. Because in the end, it will be the President who will determine if we can push through with this plan," said Guiao.

Guiao added that they would use Fort Bonifacio as model wherein the Armed Forces of the Philippines sold part of the land for their modernization program.

"If we sell the RMSC property at P50,000 per square meter, which to me is cheap considering its location, and let’s just say that it's 10 hectares then that means P5 billion. Then we use that money to develop a certain area in Clark. For this project, maybe P2 to P3 billion is enough," Guiao said.

Philippine Sports Commission chair Carlos Tuason is open to the idea, saying it’s about time to transfer the country’s sports facilities and training venue of the athletes to a more condusive area, free from the pollution and all other kinds of distractions within the metropolis.