Juggernaut

There is no basis for the speculation that the peso was stronger the last two weeks because of all the gold we were hauling from the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

The peso appeared stronger because our imports were dropping and remittances from our army of expatriate workers were rising. We also made about P1 billion in tourism revenues during the two weeks of the Games. But that is not the matter we should celebrate these days.

What we should celebrate is the truly awesome performance of our athletes. We took in a total of 387 medals: 149 golds, 117 silvers and 121 bronzes. Our closest rivals in the region were left far behind.

In a month or two, the country is due to graduate to the ranks of upper middle-income economies. The latest Philippine Statistics Authority report showed we were reducing poverty incidence much faster than expected. What better way to announce our arrival than the well-organized hosting of the Southeast Asian Games and our athletes’ dominant performance.

 The medals tally says it all: we have returned to our old role as the sporting juggernaut in the region.

That did not come easy. Our athletes invested tens of thousands of hours in hard training. The most outstanding trained abroad with foreign coaches to be the best they can be. Our sports establishment, once riddled with corruption and factional infighting, has snapped back into form.

This, it can be argued, symbolizes everything else in the country. We are getting our act together. We are preparing to compete. We are ready to win.

The sight of our athletes, young and strong Filipinos, delivering their best to honor the flag is reassuring. The future will be in good hands.

Outstanding

It is hard to believe that just three weeks ago there was so much negativism in the air. Politicians were making an issue of the cost of the cauldron and the contracts to build the stadia. Anti-administration websites were circulating a lot of fake news about lodging for the visiting athletes and the quality of food available for them.

It turned out, some of our best chefs were drafted to ensure not only that our visitors were well fed but also that all the food was halal compliant. The venues were delivered on time, all sporting the same “look” for the Games.

Hosting the Games was a complex undertaking. A total of 5,630 athletes from 11 countries competed. Add to that the sports officials and the arbiters. The 529 events in 56 sports were spread out to different venues in Central Luzon, Metro Manila and Southern Tagalog.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of performers were involved in the opening and closing ceremonies, counting the Secretary of Education who sang for the chorale. Thousands of volunteers looked after every aspect of the events. Hundreds of vehicles shuttled athletes from their hotels to the venues.

The organizers figured everything out. The complicated logistical requirements were delivered like clockwork.

Our visitors were impressed. We had set a new standard for hosting international sporting meets that might be hard to match. Our guests were all praises for the quality of our hosting. The Vietnamese, who will host the next Southeast Asian Games, will have a tough act to follow.

The Organizing Committee deserves their own set of medals for the good job they put in. Committee chairman and Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano might be forgiven for making that long speech during the closing ceremonies. We worked for his time in the limelight.

Wei Jizhong, vice-president of the Olympic Council of Asia, was generous in his praises for the way this edition of the Games was organized. Appropriately impressed, he said the Philippines could definitely host “bigger scale” events.

Taking the cue, Speaker Cayetano announced he would work for the country to make a bid for the 2030 Asian Games. That will be many times bigger than the recently concluded regional games. But gains in national pride will be many times bigger as well.

Politics

Some people could not take Cayetano hogging the limelight for too long. Almost as soon as the very successful sporting event was concluded, as while our people were still relishing the afterglow of days of glory and reaping the dividend in national pride, the politicians were back for the dreary business of takedown.

Our politics, after all, is not just a game of thrones. It is also a game of crabs.

While we were still counting our medals, one senator announced that a Senate inquiry would be held to look at how the funds were spent for hosting the Southeast Asian Games. The Senate is, of course, well within its rights to conduct another public spectacle in the name of exercising its oversight functions – but only if there is compelling evidence to do so.

The Ombudsman, in the exercise of its own functions, has formed a team to review all the transactions relating to Games-related expenditure of public funds. The eager senator might want to wait for anything the Ombudsman might come up with. This is all a matter of courtesy.

A Senate inquiry might be held “in aid of legislation” – although the record tells us very little actual legislation arises from high-profile inquisitions. Improving the rewards system for our athletes might provide some cover for such an inquiry. But unless there is clear evidence of fund misuse, the inquiry will be another dreary exercise for the benefit of grandstanding.

Unfortunately, this is how politics is done in our country.