In what was not usual, Malacañang yesterday released Memorandum Circular 56 directing government agencies to extend support to the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee Foundation (Phisgoc Foundation) for the hosting of the biennial event set 30 November to 11 December this year.

This means the Phisgoc Foundation will take over the management of the 30th SEA Games from the original Phisgoc, Inc., the group initially led by former Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano as chairman with Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chief William “Butch” Ramirez and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Ricky Vargas as co-vice chairmen.

The Phisgoc Foundation did not give Ramirez a seat. It is composed mostly of Cayetano’s and the POC’s staff.

But government money for sports — if the governing laws, rules and regulations are followed — will be channeled to and disbursed by the PSC. And there now lies the problem of coordination among the major players in the country’s fourth hosting of the SEAG.

That Executive Sec. Salvador Medialdea signed a memorandum instead of President Rodrigo Duterte executing an Executive Order for a major international sports undertaking also raised questions from other sports officials.

Medialdea signed the memorandum on 25 January. The country’s last hosting of the Games in 2005 was fired off by an EO signed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The memo directed the PSC and POC to coordinate and support each other for the effective preparation and successful participation of the Philippine delegates.

Section 2 of MC 56, however, said: “All other departments, bureaus, agencies and instrumentalities of government, including government-owned or controlled corporations, and state universities and colleges are hereby directed to render full support and assistance, consistent with their respective mandates, to the Phisgoc in the preparatory activities for the Philippines’ hosting… including among others procurement of necessary materials and in accordance with existing laws, rules and regulations.”

This is where the PSC should be strict in implementation, Ramirez said.

“Government has accounting rules to follow. We should follow to the letter or we will be accountable to every centavo that the national government will release for the SEA Games,” Ramirez said.

“It is the PSC’s duty and commitment to follow the laws, rules and regulations regarding use of public funds,” Ramirez added.

Also a concern, according to Ramirez, is the pace of preparations for the Games.

Another sports official claimed preparations are already a year behind. Not all sports associations have complied with the basic requirements needed for the purchase and procurement of their equipment.

A change in leadership in the POC midway through the term of former POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco also delayed the preparations.

Deadline, the Daily Tribune source said, was set October of last year. But the formation of the Phisgoc Foundation completely reset the preparations to almost zero hour, he said.

There is also the danger of the national budget likely to be reenacted amid the debate between the houses of Congress about the supposed insertions in the General Appropriations Bill.

And if a national budget is approved before March, the fund requirement submitted by the original Phisgoc were not the detailed expenses that government accounting system demands.

If cash budgeting will be imposed, the organizers will have to tweak the budget again as the practice will release funds quarterly with all savings needed to revert to the national treasury if money is not spent at the end of each quarter.

“The PSC has to be firm about the expenses to be incurred. We will have to review and assess all procurement needs and then bid them out following the Commission on Audit rules,” Ramirez said.

Another source, however, said the Phisgoc Foundation has yet to submit a detailed list of expenses.

The Phisgoc, Inc. said it will spend P7.5 billion to host the SEA Games.

The PSC, which led the hosting of the 2005 SEAG which the country topped as overall champion for merely P500 million, said P2.5 billion will do for an extravagant hosting.