Forget politics for the moment

With a week to go before the official start of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, the Philippines appears to be shooting itself in the foot as some quarters are publicly questioning budget appropriations in hosting the biennial competition to take away the focus of showcasing the country’s ability to stage an event of this magnitude with efficiency, grace and typical Filipino hospitality.

It’s clearly bad timing. A Senate hearing to look into the staging expenses of the SEA Games at this point will only serve to politicize the exercise instead of the public and private sectors coming together to display the kind of unity that prospective investors want to see from an emerging economy. Will the hearing put a stop to the lighting of the cauldron in the opening ceremony because spending for the “kaldero” was “extravagant” and “unnecessary?’ Why bring up the cost of the cauldron now? To embarrass PHISGOC? To ridicule the Philippines for putting money into a cauldron at the expense of providing athletes with long overdue financial assistance? How will the Philippines’ neighbors in SEA react?

PHISGOC chairman and House Speaker Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano said the cauldron is a symbol of the SEA Games and a work of art. The late national artist Bobby Manosa was commissioned to design what Cayetano described as a monument. In the Olympics, the cauldron is such a significant element that design companies went to court to establish conceptual rights over the 2012 London centerpiece. But out of respect for the Games, the dispute became public knowledge only after the competition.

The cauldron isn’t a plaything. Countries spend massive amounts to come up with a unique design that will later be displayed as a timeless attraction. It’s been a magnificent instrument to highlight the opening and closing of the Olympics. Cayetano mentioned that Singapore spent the equivalent of P65 million for its cauldron in hosting the SEA Games in 2015.

Cayetano said he is accountable for the SEA Games and more than willing to face anyone questioning propriety, necessity or extravagance at the conclusion of the event. The SEA Games will happen in a week and there’s no turning back. The Philippines must make good on its promise not just to stage the Games but to leave a lasting legacy as the host of the biggest and most successful SEA Games ever.

Nobody is contesting complaints that there are delays in the shipment of sports equipment, construction of facilities and distribution of athletes’ allowances. Nobody ever said this would be easy. It’s been a struggle over the last two years. But the Filipino is a survivor. Cayetano said if there are shortcomings that won’t be resolved when the Games begin, he’ll use “contingencies” to get the job done one way or the other. That’s how determined the PHISGOC leadership is to project the Philippines as a nation that delivers on its word. 

Unfortunately, the talk of an excessively expensive cauldron has somewhat doused the enthusiasm and spirit of the coming Games. A budget of P55.9 million was mentioned as the appropriation for the cauldron. If you contend that the money could’ve been used to build 50 classrooms or if you argue that the P6 billion budget for the SEA Games could’ve been used for infrastructure or health services, then the Philippines should never have bid to host the SEA Games in the first place. Balancing the national budget to consider different priorities is a tough tightrope act. If you don’t believe in sports as a vehicle to promote national growth or Pinoy pride, you wouldn’t support a budget for the SEA Games and you would rather criticize the budget for a cauldron than rally around the flag to back the athletes in the field of competition.

The SEA Games are a week away and the timing of questioning propriety is clearly ill-advised. Instead of raising issues that will taint the gains of hosting the event, the direction should be fostering national unity to galvanize all-out support for this historic undertaking. If anyone wants to question the budget for the cauldron or whatever else related to the SEA Games, let him or her come forward after the event, when the medals will have been awarded, when the visitors and guests will have returned home, when the Philippines will have basked in the success of hosting this milestone conclave.