Big question mark

Philippine Paralympic Committee president Mike Barredo is in a quandary. It’s been decided not to proceed with the Philippines hosting the 10th ASEAN Para Games this year after three postponements but whether the event will be held at all in another country or not is a big question mark.

Barredo, concurrently chairman of the ASEAN Para Sports Federation (APSF), said the situation is out of anyone’s hands. “I feel for our para athletes,” he said. “We prepared to host the ASEAN Para Games the last 2 1/2 years. We’re scheduled to convene the APSF Board in late July but we’ll call for a conference sooner now that it’s confirmed that we won’t host. We don’t really know what will happen. Indonesia is on lockdown and their para athletes are back home. Thailand had expressed willingness to host in case we withdraw but how many countries will be able to send para athletes?”

The Tokyo Paralympics have been reset to Aug. 24-Sept. 5 next year and Barredo said he doesn’t know if APSF will decide to cancel the 10th ASEAN Para Games totally. If the 10th ASEAN Para Games are reset to next year, it will mean two stagings within 12 months since Vietnam is slated to host the 11th edition on Nov. 21-Dec. 2. “Nothing is certain,” said Barredo. “We’re hoping the Tokyo Paralympics will push through but at the moment, that’s not a sure thing. Do we hold the ASEAN Para Games before or after the Paralympics? Do we postpone the 11th ASEAN Para Games to 2022?”

With the coronavirus outbreak, Barredo said he anticipated the decision to cancel this year’s ASEAN Para Games. “We understand that PSC’s budget for 2020 has been realigned,” he said. “About P700 million of the P900 million budget will be used to fight COVID-19. Of the P900 million, a budget of P450 million was allocated for the ASEAN Para Games. Last year, a budget of P100 million was approved to get ready for the ASEAN Para Games. We used part of it to host the APSF Board meeting, purchase equipment, cover marketing costs and pay for our workforce. There is an unused portion of over P30 million which we’re hoping, with PSC’s approval, to tap for workforce allowances from the start of this year and pending orders of equipment.”

About 270 para athletes would’ve represented the Philippines in the ASEAN Para Games this year, up from 106 in the previous competition in Kuala Lumpur in 2017. “There are about 100 para athletes and coaches in our national pool receiving PSC allowances and we’ve added about 100 more because of the ASEAN Para Games,” said Barredo. “(PSC) Chairman Butch (Ramirez) is very supportive of our para movement. He’s all out to help. We’re grateful to Chairman and the PSC Board. The next step is to gather the APSF Board for a collective, unanimous consensus on what to do. The difficulty is things may change month to month and we don’t know what will be the global situation next year. We’ll just do the best we can to safeguard our para athletes and coaches in this pandemic.”