GMA to lead SEA Games opening tomorrow

President Arroyo will lead the opening of the 23rd Southeast Asian Games tomorrow afternoon at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila’s Rizal Park in rites that will be beamed via satellite television to neighboring countries.

Ronald Allan Mendoza, the lead organizer of the games’ opening and closing ceremonies, said they prepared an austere but glittering and meaningful ceremony for the athletes and nations across the region.

They made do with what they could with the budget allotted them, Mendoza said, adding that they could not afford the thousands of performers that Vietnam had when Hanoi hosted the biennial games in 2003.

Mendoza said the few hundred performers they have will showcase the harmony and similarities of peoples in Southeast Asia.

A 60-piece orchestra and a 40-member chorale will perform during the ceremonies. Folk singer Bayang Barrios will perform the opening song.

"It will not be glamorous when it comes to effects. But we put our hearts into the preparation and so it will be touching to all the viewers," Mendoza promised reporters.

Mrs. Arroyo inspected the grandstand and other preparations last Tuesday, and thanked the performers and organizers for their efforts.

"She basically said if the athletes are important, so are we," Mendoza said.

Aside from the Philippines, the other participating countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam.

Jose "Peping" Cojuangco, president of the Philippine Olympic Committee and chairman of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games organizing committee, predicted a gold rush for Filipino athletes in taekwondo, wushu, arnis and boxing.

Filipino athletes participating in the meet, the region’s biggest sports event, are busy gearing up for the competitions at various venues that include Cebu, Bacolod, Los Baños, Manila, Subic and Tagaytay.

Security is tight at the games’ venues. Aside from possible terrorist attacks, authorities are also keeping a sharp eye out for an unseen enemy — bird flu.

However, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III is confident that the SEA Games would not provide an avenue for the avian influenza to enter the country.

All the foreign athletes and delegates underwent screening at Ninoy Aquino International Airport and were monitored for fever, the bird flu’s primary symptom.

"It is not impossible theoretically but at the rate things are being monitored, I really doubt that we will have a case of bird flu in a person and find himself watching the games," he told a press briefing.

Countries already affected by avian influenza are also implementing measures to ensure that their athletes and delegates are not infected, he added.

Duque also advised the public to avoid smoking at the games.

"Sports and tobacco consumption do not mix. We should highlight, above all, through the SEA Games, the importance of an active and healthy lifestyle," he said.

Smoking, the sale of cigarettes, billboards and t-shirts promoting tobacco will be banned in all sports venues.

Violators will be sanctioned in accordance with Republic Act 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003, said Jessica de Leon, advocacy manager of the Department of Health’s (DOH) anti-tobacco campaign.

Duque said that 27 medical teams would be on standby in the sports venues to ensure quick-response operations in case of emergency. Each team will be manned by two doctors, two nurses, one nursing assistant and an ambulance driver.

"More than keeping the SEA Games smoke and drug-free, we are intent on ensuring that the event remains disease-free from start to finish," he added. — Aurea Calica, Paolo Romero, Sheila Crisostomo