By Ben Rosario
House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said Thursday no favor was given Sen. Cynthia Villar in connection with the decision of Southeast Asian (SEA) Games organizers to designate the Villar family-owned Star Mall as the venue of the bowling competition.
House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano
(JANSEN ROMERO / MANILA BULLETIN)
The lawmaker made this clarification even as he decried the misinformation campaign against the country’s hosting of the 30th SEA Games, allegedly motivated by politics.
Aside from accusations on social media of favoritism on the bowling venue, the SEA Games organizers have been assailed for alleged extravagance in the construction of the P55 million cauldron.
Critics have also reported that several competition venues are still not ready for the event which is set to start within the week.
Cayetano is chairman of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Committee Foundation, Inc. (PHISGOC) which has been assigned by the government to do the preparations for and oversee the country’s biggest sports event of the decade.
PHISGOC’s receipt of P1.5 billion from the government is among the issues being hurled against the country’s hosting of the games.
The House leader said he checked the information raised in social media about the bowling venue and discovered that even Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar, son of Senator Villar, is not aware that the SEA Games bowling segment will be held at Star Mall.
Cayetano said that while the bowling lanes are located in the mall located in Mandaluyong City, the facility is owned and operated by Puyat Sports.
“It’s owned by Puyat Sports and alam naman natin, pagdating sa (and we know that when it comes to) bowling dito sa Pilipinas (here in the Philippines), Puyat Sports is one of the gold standards if not the gold standard,” he told reporters during the inspection of the SEAG sports facilities at New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac.
Cayetano added: “So that’s an example of pure politics of trying to find issues.”
Reacting to reports that SEA Games venues are not ready, Cayetano said he expects the Tagaytay site to be finished this week while the Rizal venue will also be ready in time.
Nevertheless, he assured that “we have a contingency plan” that will address such a situation, especially at the Rizal Memorial Stadium venues that will be the site of basketball, volleyball, and other events.
“I think we’re the only nation in the world that will host a multi-sport international event like this, then titirahin ng oposisyon (the opposition will criticize it) right before the games and ask the administration to explain,” Cayetano lamented.
He recalled that when Vietnam hosted the international Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in 2017, organizers were able to put in motion a contingency plan for an alternative venue when flooding caused by a typhoon barred the holding of the conference at the original site.
He also pointed out that when the country hosted the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 50th-anniversary summit in 2017 and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in 2015, the political opposition did nothing to disrupt or criticize the government.
Nevertheless, Cayetano said the Filipino athletes are “100 percent ready” to compete, notwithstanding deficiencies in financial support and training facilities.
Meanwhile, Dasmariñas City Congressman Elpidio Barzaga called for an end to political bickering and “mad slugging” among leaders as the SEA Games approach.
“The cauldron issue which the President has to intervene should be set aside to focus on the SEA Games and the athletes. As President Rodrigo Duterte stated, the cauldron is a work of art—an intellectual creation—which could not be the subject of exact pecuniary estimation,” he said in a press statement.
He urged Filipinos not to be distracted by the cauldron issue and to instead focus on the biennial regional multi-sport event.