Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William “Butch” Ramirez yesterday said there is no need to press the panic button despite the absence of an Executive Order (EO) from President Rodrigo Duterte to officially roll the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games late this year.

Ramirez is confident the President will soon sign an EO, especially with former Foreign Affairs Sec. Alan Peter Cayetano remaining with the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc).

The EO is important in the country’s SEA Games hosting as it signifies the President’s formal acceptance of the hosting for vital government agencies and controlled corporations to provide support and assistance in making the SEA Games a success.

Ramirez is confident the President will soon sign an EO, especially with former Foreign Affairs Sec. Alan Peter Cayetano remaining with the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee.

Aside from the PSC, other agencies play critical roles are the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., Philippine National Police, Metro Manila Development Authority, Bureau of Customs, Department of Tourism, Bureau of Immigration and the Manila International Airport Authority.

The PSC, however, will be the lead agency after lawmakers lodged the P7.5-billion SEA Games fund under its account and not with the DFA, which Cayetano used to lead.

In a statement, Ramirez said he is more than willing to spearhead the hosting and will follow the rules and regulations of the Commission on Audit. He also vowed that all expenditures and procurements will be properly evaluated to make sure that government money is used properly.

The PSC is set to formally receive the budget following a bicameral committee meeting next week.

Ramirez admitted that even if they possess the fund, the PSC still needs an EO to start inter-agency coordination meetings.

He is not bothered at this point, however.

“Securing the EO is not the responsibility of the PSC chairman. We respect the authority of Sec. Alan Peter Cayetano, who was appointed by the President to organize the SEA Games,” Ramirez said.

“We’re leaving it up to the good (former) secretary (Cayetano). We’re optimistic that it will come out any time soon.”

Ramirez admitted that there are a lot of issues hounding the country’s SEA Games preparation.

One of the problems is the failure by the participating national sports associations (NSA) to submit their respective requests for budget and procurement of equipment and other materials to be used in their SEA Games hosting.

So far, only 25 of the 56 NSA have complied. Ramirez said their requests already amount to P160 million and it could even soar up to P300 million.

But things will get even more complicated without an EO.

“Without an EO, we will be subject to the election ban for government procurement,” said Ramirez, fearing that the midterm elections in May could hamper the SEA Games preparation.

“We’re starting to purchase the equipment even without their (NSA) requests,” he said. “Because when the election ban kicks in and we still don’t have an EO, it’s going to be more difficult.”

“Rest assured that we are doing our best and everything is under control.”