Go: Probe on SEAG funds may push through

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Christopher Go said that as chairman of the Senate committee on sports, he was willing to spearhead an inquiry, if warranted, to determine whether or not each peso of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC)’s budget was well spent.

“It’s important that we also have an assessment after the Games. But let’s not talk about that for the moment,” he said over the weekend.

 He said Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, who is also PHISGOC chairman, apologized to President Duterte as soon as the chief executive alighted from his vehicle at the Philippine Arena for the opening ceremonies last Saturday.

“The Speaker admitted there were some glitches and gaps and the President himself said such can’t be avoided, and the public should know what happened. He told him that we just continue working and continue the Games,” Go said.

Duterte told sports officials that while he will no longer be President in 2030, they should learn from the SEA Games preparations so the country could do better when it hosts the Asian Games that year, he said.

Cayetano, meanwhile, said he intends to ask the Commission on Audit (COA) to conduct a special examination of the funds used for the ongoing Southeast Asian Games, which the country is hosting.

He told reporters over the weekend that he has drafted a letter that he would send to the COA on Dec. 12 asking for “an independent special audit of all government funds spent for the Games.”

He is asking for a special audit in the light of questions raised by Senators Franklin Drilon and Panfilo Lacson on the P50-million cauldron, which boxing icon Sen. Manny Pacquiao and another Filipino boxer, Nesthy Petecio, lighted on Saturday, and on the transfer of public funds to a foundation that handled the preparations.

The COA scrutiny would be separate from the investigation presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo has said the Office of the President would conduct.

Based on the 2019 national budget, the PSC has a funding amounting to P5.357 billion, of which P5 billion is specifically allocated “for the hosting of the SEA Games.”

There were reports that the total budget for the competition is P6 billion. It is not clear where the additional P1 billion came from.

In his welcome speech as PHISGOC chairman, Cayetano lamented the spread of “lies” on the SEA Games hosting but expressed optimism that organizers will rise above these and bring the biennial event to a success.

Cayetano earlier slammed what he branded as spread of “fake news” in social media by certain groups with “political” motives.

He said there would be a congressional investigation on the matter after the games close on Dec. 11 as he vowed to unmask those behind what he believed is an “operation” to sabotage the country’s SEA Games hosting. – With Jess Diaz, Edu Punay