After 14 years, the Philippines once again welcomes the 10 other Southeast Asian (SEA) nations as the 30th SEA Games formally opens with a world-class opening rites expected to glitter at the 55,000-seater Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan. As the Games started on a wrong foot with issues on transportation, billeting and accommodation greeted the foreign and even local athletes, the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) promises a memorable, once-in-a-lifetime opening ceremony that will be held for the first time inside an indoor stadium. Phisgoc tapped the services of world-renowned FiveCurrents, the same group that produced the opening ceremonies of 2012 London Olympics and 2014 Sochi Winter Games in Russia, to provide a world-class show that starts at 7 in the evening. No less than President Rodrigo Duterte will grace the opening ceremony of the biennial meet, last held here in 2005, where the country also won the overall crown for the first time in the history of the biennial meet. “It will be a great show. The standard can be comparable to the Olympics and it will on what we have in the country using the modern technology,” Phisgoc chairman and House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said. This year’s SEA Games is the biggest in terms of sports (56) and events (530) and is spread out in different parts of Metro Manila and Luzon with the New Clark City (NCC) in Capas, Tarlac as the main hub where centerpiece athletics and swimming will be held. The Philippine team is sending the most number of athletes for this year’s competition with 1,115 and will be guided by 753 coaches and officials as they try to bury the bitter memory of the country’s sixth-place finish in last year edition held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Philippine Sports Commission chairman William Ramirez and Philippine Olympic Committee president Rep. Abraham Tolentino are also expected to grace the opening rites together with the representatives of 10 other nations in the competition that will run until 11 December. Sen. Manny Pacquiao and Tokyo Olympics-bound Caloy Yulo will light the controversial cauldron at the NCC, some 90 kilometers away from the Philippine Arena, where the traditional parade of 11 nations will be held. “That is the highlight on how we light the cauldron and fireworks. We are doing a digital type of technology for the fireworks. This is quite different from the previous SEA Games or Asian Games so I hope people will like it,” Phisgoc chief operating officer Ramon Suzara said. Boxers Nesthy Petecio and Eumir Marcial, pole vaulter EJ Obiena, skateboarder Margielyn Didal and jiu-jitsu artist Meggie Ochoa will carry the flag of the Philippines in the parade of nations, the first time that a country would have multiple spearheads. Petecio is arguably the hottest boxer in the country after winning the gold medal in the AIBA Women’s World Championship while Marcial is the reigning Asian champion also in boxing. Obiena, meanwhile, serves as the first Filipino to make it to the Tokyo Olympics while Didal and Ochoa are both Asian champions. Also having participation are SEA Games legends Paeng Nepomuceno, Lydia de Vega, Alvin Patrimonio, Bong Coo, Akiko Thompson, Eric Buhain, Onyok Velasco and Efren “Bata” Reyes who will lift the flags of the members of the SEA Games federation. Aside from the flag bearers and Yulo, weightlifting’s Hidilyn Diaz, the men’s basketball team and some of the athletes in taekwondo, boxing, athletics, wushu, triathlon and gymnastics are expected to lead the campaign of Team Philippines, which is eyeing to duplicate the “Miracle of 2005.” Action in sports like floorball, polo, water polo, football and netball already kicked off, but the Games have yet to go full blast with hostilities in centerpiece swimming, archery, boxing, men’s basketball and golf, starting on 4 December while athletics going full blast on 6 December.