By Mario Casayuran
Opposition Senator Leila de Lima asked Thursday that the financing and organization of the 2019 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games must be subjected to a microscopic investigation after the conclusion of the sports event.
Senator Leila de Lima (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
For the meantime, De Lima called for sobriety among Filipinos to ensure the country’s successful hosting of the SEA Games despite the growing controversies ahead of its official launch on Saturday.
No matter how difficult it may be, De Lima said the Filipino public should try to separate “the government’s rapaciousness and incompetence” from the hosting of the event as a country while the games are being held.
De Lima congratulated the Filipino athletes and their supporters such as the local government units (LGUs), the youth, and other volunteers for their sacrifices just to make the athletes, both foreign and Filipinos, comfortable and the sports event a success.
Before the opening ceremony of the 2019 SEA games, organizers of the event have been met with complaints ranging from poor coordination for the transportation and accommodation of visiting athletes, insufficient food, and failure to provide halal food to Muslim athletes, to the unfinished game venues, among others.
De Lima noted that the Duterte administration also drew flak for allocating an exorbitant amount, or a whopping P50 million for a 50-meter tall cauldron-type structure for the lighting of the SEA games flame.
‘’The unrelenting backlash on social media received by the government due to the country’s hosting of the event eventually forced apologies from the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) chaired by House Speaker Alan Peter S. Cayetano and the Palace,’’ she said.
While the country still has a hosting job to do, De Lima said Filipinos should do their part in praying for and supporting the success of the 2019 SEA games for the honor of the nation, and not focus on the ‘’dishonorable regime of plunderers in the meantime.’’
“Despite their corruption, the brightest stars of the Philippine political universe still cannot take away from us our spirit as a nation and our graciousness as hosts,” she said.
Once the games finally come to a close, De Lima said the probe on the hiccups of the SEAG should be investigated thoroughly
“rom the rigmarole capitalization transaction involving the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) MTD Capital Berhad of Malaysia, and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), as hatched by former BCDA Chair and now Presidential Flagship Projects Advisor Vivencio Dizon, up to contracting the design of the olden Kaldero to an apparently bedridden and dying national artist, cannot escape scrutiny after this is all over,” she said.
The 2019 SEA Games will feature 56 sports and 530 events in 44 venues across the country from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.