Let us cheer our athletes

Our SEA Games hosting had a very bumpy start, thanks to a “bright star” who is proving to be not that bright. This proves again that our politicians are bad managers.

Luckily, the flood of negative reaction on social media nudged the organizers back on track in time for the actual competitions. As a comment on Twitter puts it, “Trust me, umayos yan kasi naging kritikal at nagreklamo tayo. Sana tuloy-tuloy.” So-called negativism saved national honor.

Because of the outcry, the fumbling organizing committee reluctantly allowed experienced government agencies to help out. Hosting international events including past hosting of the SEA Games, involves many government agencies and private sector associations as well.

 If there is one thing Filipinos know how to do well, it is hosting large international events. I am still wondering why Speaker Allan Cayetano refused to allow any other agency or private association to help.

There are, for instance, people at the Department of Tourism who can warmly welcome guests at the airport with all the bells and whistles even if they are half awake. DOT also has the expertise and connections to handle hotel and catering arrangements. They could have helped avoid the embarrassing missteps of Cayetano’s group.

Interestingly, the venues built and spent for by LGUs were ready for business, while those that were being refurbished by the organizing committee outside of Clark were still being rushed for completion this week.

We should all be happy to learn that the associations of private tourism stakeholders have also started to help. They wanted to help earlier, but their offer was rejected.

Jojo Clemente, who heads the Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP), declared that they are now working with the tourism department to fix the early mess and prevent future ones. The TCP, he said, “remains committed to implementing the best practices in welcoming international guests to the country.”

Clemente has met with DOT and the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association Inc. (HSMA) “to see how else we can help ease the difficulties of the athletes.”

Our tourism stakeholders have no choice but to help, whether Cayetano wants their help or not. DOT and TCP have invested time and money selling the country abroad and bad hosting of the games negates their efforts. It is supposed to be more fun in the Philippines.

Private companies and individuals have also stepped up to help. The Yanson family, owners of Ceres Transport, and private firm Vallacar Transit, deployed some of their buses to assist in the transport of 17 football teams playing at the SEA Games.

According to Stella Arnaldo of Business Mirror, there had also been messages from private individuals and organizations willing to host and feed athletes in their homes, as well as help in transporting the delegates from their hotels to their event locations. Such offers were posted on Twitter.

But despite their initial failures, Arnaldo reports that sources told her “there’s still some hesitance on the part of Cayetano’s Phisgoc” to let DOT assist. For instance, they want to limit DOT’s assigned staff to only hold the leis to put around the necks of arriving athletes.

These same sources intimated that DOT had been offering “even before” to help Phisgoc in organizing the hotel bookings, “but they [Phisgoc] repeatedly kept saying they would do it on their own.”

It wasn’t like this before. The Philippine Convention and Visitors Corp., the forerunner of the Tourism Promotions Board, “used to chair the [Games’] food and accommodations committee.” The previous organizing committees were a combination of private and government officials.

Also snubbed was the offer of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) to help them ensure that delegates from Islamic countries are served halal food.

The DOST, which has a halal unit, provided training on food preparation, but limited to the main venue at New Clark City.

However, of the 56 sports events, only two events will be held in New Clark City, nine others are held in other areas in Clark. The rest are spread out in Manila, Subic, Laguna, La Union, and Tagaytay. Not all the other caterers are likely to be ready to serve halal food.

For now, we shift our focus to the athletes. Our athletes know how rotten the system is. They have suffered lack of support from the national sports associations, and many who have the means took private training options abroad.

But the politics in the selection process of who will represent the country in the SEA Games displaced some athletes who could be strong medal contenders.

James De Los Santos, a six-time consecutive National Games senior gold medalist, is a victim of what looks like politicking in Karate Pilipinas Inc (KPI).

De Los Santos claimed that he was “wrongfully” evaluated in a closed-door setting. In a Facebook post, he said “the proper way to unseat a National Team member is to defeat him/her in the Philippine National Games.”

Three other athletes, all outstanding skateboarders, were also removed from SEA Games contention supposedly because they were too outspoken about politics in the Skateboarding and Roller Sports Association of the Philippines Inc.

One of those excluded is a skateboarder from Caloocan who won gold in the men’s division of Game of Skate earlier this year. They accused the association of having pre-selected skateboarders, instead of the competition winners prior to the national championship.

Hopefully, the other athletes flying the Philippine colors are determined to give it their best shot despite the disadvantage of not getting the kind of support other athletes get from their governments. Being the host country, let us hope and pray we end up in the top tier of medal standings.

We have done it in the past SEA Games we hosted. Let us cheer our athletes on. Supremacy in sports, as Manny Pacquiao showed us, is a great way to unite us as a nation.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco.