After 13 years, the country will open its doors to the 30th Southeast Asian Games next year.

Thousands of athletes, coaches, officials, members of the media and guests from 10 other countries are set to troop to Manila to celebrate friendship and camaraderie through intense competition.

Thailand remains the team to beat while Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam also have what it takes to emerge victorious in the biggest, most prestigious athletic sports conclave in the region.

Even tiny Singapore is actively participating as it turned swimming into a gold mine while emerging countries like Laos, Cambodia, Timor Leste, Brunei and Myanmar are eager to come up with a good fight knowing that the Games is crucial for a healthy citizenry and nation-building.

The Philippines emerged victorious – the overall champion – with 113 gold medals the last time it hosted the Games in 2005.

But things went downhill from there as it slid to sixth place in 2007 in Thailand, fifth in 2009 in Laos, sixth in 2011 in Indonesia, seventh in 2013 in Myanmar, sixth in 2015 in Singapore and sixth again in 2017 in Malaysia.

The hopes of Filipino athletes to cop the overall title again were reduced into a mere fantasy as non-stop bickering of their top officials over power, money and fame turned Philippine sports into a complete chaos.

The country will be hosting the Southeast Asian Games for a fourth time.

And it should be credited to the strong political will and heart for the athletes of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Philippines wasn’t supposed to host the SEA Games.

The turn, actually, belonged to Brunei – the mineral-rich country that is more focused on stacking up its wealth rather than building sports facilities that are up to SEA Games standard.

But in a meeting among members of the Southeast Asian Games Federation Council in Singapore in 2015, Bruneian sports officials admitted that they could not host the biennial meet.

Instead, they will just support whatever country the powerful council will pick to be the host for 2018.

Three countries raised their hands – Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The Thais said they can host the games “anytime” while the Indonesians believe that the facilities they are constructing in Jakarta and Palembang for their hosting of the 18th Asian Games this year will be enough to come up with a successful staging of the tourney.

Surprisingly, the SEA Games council gave it to the Philippines.

“The SEA Games council trusts us. It feels that we can be a good host,” said former Philippine Olympic Committee secretary general Steve Hontiveros, who was present in that fateful meeting to represent former POC president Jose Cojuangco.

“We were reluctant at first, but when they said that we still have four years to prepare, that’s the time that we realized that everything is very doable in the next four years.”

The following year, Duterte rose to power after beating Mar Roxas — the bet of Cojuangco’s nephew, former President Noynoy Aquino — by a wide margin.

Duterte’s first order of business in sports was to appoint former Philippine Sports Commission chairman William Ramirez back to his old position after serving as chief of Davao City Sports Council during his administration as city mayor.

Ramirez, a seasoned sport official, immediately sat down with Cojuangco to discuss how to make the hosting successful.

But the road to the hosting was littered with challenges.

The Maute Group raided the city of Marawi in Lanao del Sur in a bid to establish an Islamic state.

The battle between rebel and government forces lasted five months with a thousand of lives lost and billions of properties destroyed as the once beautiful city was razed to the ground due to the non-stop assault by the military.

Duterte feels that putting Marawi back on its feet should be on top of his priority.

“Due to the current situation in Mindanao and the problem with terrorism and atrocities, we regret to inform you that we will no longer push through with the hosting of the SEA Games,” said Ramirez in a statement.

“It has been resolved that the government resources be focused on the rehabilitation and rebuilding of Mindanao, specifically Marawi City.”

Although the SEA Games are projected to be spearheaded by the POC, the final say should still come from the President as the Olympic council, a purely private entity and needed a government guarantee through a Republic Act.

This guarantee was to mobilize the government resources and agencies like the PSC, Department of Foreign Affairs, Bureau of Customs, Department of Tourism and other offices to make sure that the hosting will be a success.

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