The never-ending squabble and mudslinging among ranking government and sports executives will definitely not break the spirit of the Philippine national team when it marches to the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games that the country will host starting next week. Chief of mission William “Butch” Ramirez said winning the title is not impossible since the athletes would be competing in the prestigious biennial meet with high morale despite countless allegations of mismanagement of fund and extravagance in the preparation of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) headed by House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano. Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon is questioning Cayetano over the construction of the SEA Games cauldron that costs P55 million. Drilon, an opposition stalwart, said the cauldron is “extravagant” and “unnecessary” and the fund could have been used to build 50 school buildings at P1 million each, prompting Cayetano to fired back and challenge his former colleague to raise his questions as soon as the SEA Games are over. But Ramirez said no amount of bickering and political showdown could stop Filipino athletes from reclaiming the SEA Games glory. “What are our chances? I am sticking to my projection that we will win the overall title,” said Ramirez, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman who coughed out P1 billion to send all competing national sports associations to various training and competition destinations abroad in preparation for the SEA Games. “Our athletes are not neophytes. Their morale is high. They underwent foreign training. They had a rigid preparation. And most of all — the SEA Games will be held here. So we really have good chances at winning the overall title.” The Philippines will be deploying the biggest delegation among 11 counties. A total of 1,085 athletes and 335 coaches and officials will represent the country in its bid of duplicating its miraculous victory the last time it hosted the Games in 2005. Ramirez said they have already chosen EJ Obiena of athletics, Meggie Ochoa of jiujitsu, Eumir Felix Marcial and Nesthy Petecio of boxing, Kiyomi Watanabe of judo and Margielyn Didal of skateboarding to serve as flag bearers while Carlos Yulo of gymnastics will carry the torch and light up the controversial cauldron together with eight-division boxing champion Sen. Manny Pacquiao. Obiena is heavily tipped to win his first SEA Games gold medal after qualifying in the pole vault competition of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 while Ochoa, Didal and Marcial are reigning Asian champions in their respective sports. Of course, Watanabe is a three-time SEA Games gold medalist and is on her way to bagging an Olympic slot while Yulo claimed the gold medal in the 49th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championship in Germany. “I already chose the flag bearers based on my capacity as CDM. We already informed the POC (Philippine Olympic Committee) and they agreed,” Ramirez said, adding that the morale of the athletes is very high. “Our deputies are going around to check the training and preparation of our athletes and we are providing all their needs like food, nutrition, sports science and other support. Seeing them being taken care of means a lot.” Ramirez was also at the helm the last time the country bagged the overall title. And most of all — the SEA Games will be held here. So we really have good chances at winning the overall title. In the 23rd edition of the Games, he rallied the athletes to emerge with 113 gold, 85 silver and 93 bronze medals, sparking massive celebration and reviving the country’s sports program. “We studied their chances based on their performance and past record and the result was very encouraging,” Ramirez said, stressing that national sports associations (NSA) predicted a golden haul of as high as 273 in their previous consultative meeting. “We spent close to P1 billion for their training and foreign exposure. We gave them everything they need. It’s really hard to predict, but I won’t be surprised if we win the overall title.” “For me, it’s just either overall (champion) or number two. Maybe top three is a little bit conservative. But these are the projections of the NSA, not mine. They know better so we’re hoping for the best.”