Bickering, unity shape SEAG hosting

Preparations for the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games had turned into a massive drama that kept athletes, coaches, officials and even fans

at the edge of their seats. Actually, this isn’t the first time that

Filipinos would be hosting the biennial meet.

The Philippines joined the SEA Games

in 1977 and got its first taste of hosting in 1981. During that time, President Ferdinand Marcos opened the doors for six other member countries by constructing the University of Life track and field oval topped with apartments that served as Athletes Village. Later on, First Lady Imelda Marcos turned the Athletes Village into Bagong Lipunan Improvement of Sites and

Services, or BLISS, housing project. Lydia de Vega-Mercado and Bong Coo were the

stars of the show as they powered the Nationals to a third-place finish behind powerhouse countries Indonesia and Thailand.

Ten years later, the Philippines hosted again. Then President Corazon Aquino inaugurated the Games at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex with De Vega-Mercado, Eric Buhain, Mansueto Velasco and Felix Barrientos all asserting their dominance.

The Games ended in controversial fashion as Indonesia edged the home squad by just one gold medal. The Filipinos made up for that sorry setback when

they hosted again in 2005. With Philippine Sports Commission chairman

William “Butch” Ramirez taking charge of the athletes, Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco manning the organization and First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo serving as chief fundraiser, Team Philippines captured the overall crown with 113 gold, 84 silver and 94 bronze medals in what was dubbed as “Miracle in Manila.”

Sport’s golden age

It was the golden age of Philippine sports.

The athletes were given an all-expense paid trip to Hong Kong and their sky-high morale spilled over in the Doha Asian Games the following year, where they had one of their most successful campaigns with four gold, six silver and nine bronze medals.

This year, the Philippines will host the SEA Games anew.

The athletes were given an all-expense paid trip to Hong Kong and their sky-high morale spilled over in the Doha Asian Games.

But what was supposed to be a festive, morale-boosting activity turned into gloom as bickering, mudslinging and backstabbing greatly hampered the preparations.

And all throughout this SEA Games journey, the Daily Tribune made sure to be at the ringside as history unfolds.

From athletes’ preparations to conflict, resignations,

appointments, presidential pronouncements and other major developments concerning the Games, the Daily Tribune brought readers inside the boardroom of leading sports agencies to uncover the news behind the news — without fear, without favor.

Here’s a recap of what happened during the country’s tumultuous SEA Games preparations:

· 4 June 2015: Prior to the opening of the 28th SEA Games in Singapore, Brunei expressed its intention to back out of the SEA Games hosting due to the lack of facilities and resources.

Ranking Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) officials in second vice president Jeff Tamayo and secretary general Steve Hontiveros grabbed the opportunity and volunteered.

In the end, the SEA Games Federation Council decided to award the hosting to the Philippines, beating Indonesia and Thailand in the “bidding war.”

· 7 May 2017: Preparations for the 30th SEA Games started to move with President Rodrigo Duterte appointing Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri as chairman of the SEA Games Organizing Committee.

A three-man panel composed of Zubiri, Cojuangco and Ramirez was formed to lay down the groundwork for the hosting.

What was supposed to be a festive, morale- boosting activity turned into gloom as bickering, mudslinging and backstabbing greatly hampered the preparations.

· 19 June 2017: After a deadly siege in Marawi City broke out, Ramirez announced that the government was recalling its guarantee and would back out of the SEA Games hosting.

Instead, the government would focus all of its effort and resources on the rehabilitation of Marawi City.

· 17 August 2017: Foreign Affairs Sec. Alan Peter Cayetano stepped forward to declare that he would spearhead the country’s hosting of the SEA Games.

A press conference was called at the last minute and ranking sports officials flew to the Kuala Lumpur biennial meet to declare their readiness to host.

· 28 August 2017: Cojuangco formally appointed Cayetano as chairman of the SEA Games organizing committee, an ad hoc body under the POC that would organize the staging of the biennial meet in the country. Cojuangco and Ramirez would serve as Cayetano’s vice-chairmen.

· 31 August 2017: Cayetano received the SEA Games flag from Yam Tunku Tan Sri Imran Tuanku Ja’afar during the closing of the 29th edition of the biennial meet in Kuala Lumpur to symbolize his willingness to spearhead the hosting in 2019.

· 24 February 2018: Cojuangco lost the POC presidency to Ricky Vargas in a court-ordered election. Also assuming position was Abraham Tolentino following the disqualification of Tom Carrasco as POC chairman.

· 17 May 2018: The POC hosted the first SEA Games Federation Council meeting where the first 30 sports in the 30th SEA Games were announced.

· 27 June 2018: A new organizing body named

SOUTHEAST Asian Games logo shines brightly as the hopes for holding the event in the country late this year improves.

Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) Foundation Inc. was registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission.

· March 2019: The POC executive board found out the existence of Phisgoc Foundation.

They started questioning Vargas about it, but he refused to give concrete answers. Cracks in the Olympic council started to show up with the group of the POC board in first vice president Joey Romasanta, Tamayo, treasurer Julian Camacho, auditor Jonne Go, past immediate president Cojuangco and board members Prospero Pichay, Robert Mananquil and Clint Aranas demanding an explanation from Vargas.

· 24 April 2019: The POC executive council set a board meeting, but Vargas turned it down, saying that he wanted to give way for members who were running for midterm elections. But the board still pushed through with its meeting since it had the majority and had the quorum achieved. The board members came up with a resolution that gave Vargas five working days to explain his involvement in the Phisgoc Foundation.

· 27 May 2019: Vargas called for a special general assembly to shed light on Phisgoc Foundation. But instead of explaining, he delivered a profanity-laced speech before firing board members who held key positions in his leadership.

He also removed Monsour del Rosario as SEA Games chief of mission and replaced him with Ramirez, who held the similar position in the previous staging of the Games in 2005. On 28 May 2019, Ramirez declined.

· 29 May 2019: Ramirez recalled his earlier decision and accepted the position with the hopes of serving as a unifying force between Vargas and the POC leaders,

· 18 June 2019: With pressure on Vargas to explain

building up, he decided to attend a special board meeting to address the problem.

Listen to your board

Daily Tribune sources said International Olympic Committee director for national Olympic committee (NOC) relations Jerome Polvey called Vargas and instructed him to “meet and listen to your board.”

Vargas reportedly sat down with Romasanta over breakfast before the 10 A.M. meeting.

But before the board meeting could formally start, he tendered his irrevocable resignation, saying that “family and corporate pressure” prompted him to step down.

Romasanta assumed the POC presidency on an acting capacity and immediately went to the PSC to explain what happened to Ramirez.

· 25 June 2019: Romasanta and the POC executive board called for an extraordinary general assembly to report the latest development to POC members. The general assembly turned ugly as Tolentino urged Romasanta and the remaining board members to resign before declaring that he would seek the POC presidency in an election on 5 July.

· 2 July 2019: The IOC and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) stepped in to restore order in the fractured local Olympic council. IOC director for NOC relations James Macleod and OCA director general Hussain Al-Musallam issued a joint statement that would pave the way for peaceful and orderly elections. Their statement also voided the 5 July elections that Tolentino ordered.

· 8 July 2019: Acting on the IOC and OCA directive, the POC executive council plotted the staging of the special elections for ratification by the POC general assembly in an extraordinary meeting on 18 July.

· 11 July 2019: In a pre-State of the Nation Address exclusive interview with Daily Tribune, President Rodrigo Duterte declared that Phisgoc should be out of the SEA Games preparation for lack of government accountability.

He said so many fingers wanted to dip into the SEA Games hosting and the government alone should run the SEA Games with the support of the POC.

· 12 July 2019: Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo hinted that President Duterte wanted to have Phisgoc investigated for charges of corruption. No concrete instance was raised, but Panelo confirmed the Chief Executive’s statement that was first made in an exclusive interview with Daily Tribune.

· 13 July 2019: Ramirez and Romasanta declared readiness to follow the order of the President regarding SEA Games hosting.

· 18 July 2019: The POC held an extraordinary general assembly before the presence of an IOC observer. Members of the elections committee were ratified and the polls set on 28 July had been formalized. Meanwhile, Ramirez sat down with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Sen. Lawrence “Bong” Go, Panelo and Cayetano to discuss the statement made by the President.

· 19 July 2019: Ramirez declared that Phisgoc would still be on top of the SEA Games hosting with the POC in charge of technical and the PSC and Department of Budget and Management taking care of the budget. A unity meeting on 24 July had been set to formally put everybody on the same page with barely four months lef t before the biennial meet.

It appears that unity is finally close to being achieved.