The country will be sending 584 athletes and 161 officials to the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam in May.
The development came after the meeting among Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Bambol Tolentino, PH team’s chief of mission to the SEAG Mon Fernandez and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) officials Thursday.
Deputy chiefs of mission Pearl Managuelod and Carl Sambrano also joined the virtual meeting.
The figure was lower than the 627-athlete delegation that the POC initially set.
Tolentino, however, said 80 athletes from various sports are on appeal, falling under the Group B category where their National Sports Associations (NSAs) will shoulder their expenses to the biennial meet.
“We understand the situation because of the budgetary constraint in the PSC, so we have to employ belt tightening measures as regards to officials and equipment,” Tolentino said.
The PSC has yet to determine the exact budget for the SEAG participation, although Fernandez earlier announced that it is within P200 million.
Team Philippines will fly in two batches aboard chartered flights to Vietnam, with the first batch on May 6 and the second batch on May 10.
This means the second batch of athletes can still vote in the National Elections set May 9.
They will be divided into four clusters–1A for Hanoi, 1B outskirts of Hanoi and 2A and 2B outside of Hanoi, including canoe-kayak and rowing in Hai Phong.
The country will compete in 39 of the 40 sports lined up, seeking to retain the overall championship it won in the 2019 edition.