By early evening today the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) will have formally opened. Let the games begin.

I, as is with many of us, look forward to the Games. We will celebrate athletic prowess and talents, not only from Filipino athletes but also from those of our neighbors in the region.

We will all wish nothing but all the best of luck to our athletes and their sporting rivals. We will rally and support our athletes, sharing in their accolades of victory and their agony of defeat.

But I, and there are scores like me, will not keep silent.

As we vow to be there for our athletes, we do not bow our heads in eerie silence and become a party to incompetent fools, to their lies, to their arrogance and to their corrupt ways.

Surely, this evening we will be awed by the glitz of the Games' grand opening party. But our enthrallment will not buy our silence nor our forgiveness.

We will not be silent. We do not agree that our criticisms about how the organizers have been going about with the current edition of the SEA Games have been enough.

Keeping silent is exactly what the embarrassment that is the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) hopes we do.

We will not keep silent because once we are enthralled by the Games, Phisgoc will use this to get a free pass from the oblivion they largely created for themselves and that had put all of us in an embarrassing bind. Their ruse will remain a forlorn hope.

We will not also keep silent in face of the unfounded umbrage we are "unpatriotic" for keeping up noisy protests while the Games are ongoing, protests that has all to do with Phisgoc and its chairman, Alan Peter Cayetano, failing to deliver. It has nothing to with the athletes or the country.

If this were true, Mr. Duterte, Mr. Cayetano's chief political patron, must also be "unpatriotic." The Palace this week said Mr. Duterte "is not pleased" with the snafus and allegations of fraud and had indicated there would be investigations even as the SEA Games are ongoing. In short, Mr. Duterte is not in denial of the ugliness of it all, unlike some of his blind followers.

And what is it with our protests that's uncomfortable or ugly?

We complained and criticized for no other intent than to correct and for matters to be corrected immediately. As one veteran events organizer from government put it bluntly: "Pointing errors out is a matter of trying to solve things."

And our criticism and protests did solve things. It may have even saved the Games from further ignominy, prodding so many that it is time now for them to help in any way they can.

When many of us criticized the *kikiam* and egg breakfast served our athletes and the lack of *halal* food for our visiting athletes, our talented chefs stepped in, providing nutrient-rich food and making sure our guest's cultural and religious sensitivities were respected.

> *We will not keep silent because once we are enthralled by the Games, Phisgoc will use this to get a free pass from the oblivion they largely created for themselves and that had put all of us in an embarrassing bind.*

When visiting athletes complained of cramped buses, we raised a howl, getting the attention of well-meaning private companies, who had the resources, to step in and provide what was sorely needed.

When we expressed disgust at how visiting and local athletes ended sleeping on hotel floors, the Department of Tourism (DoT) stepped in and took over all billeting and accommodation issues plaguing athletes. The DoT's expertise about such matters was there all along, leaving us puzzled why they were left out in the first place.

But if reports are true, it seems Phisgoc waited until last Monday to seek the help of various government agencies. And only after the unrelenting barrage of unsavory reports about the welfare of athletes.

It seems government officials had offered to help Phisgoc with organizing the SEA Games as early as 2018, but the Cayetano-led group refused.

Nor does Phisgoc seem to take well-meaning advice. Despite repeated reminders and warnings, Phisgoc ignored the advice of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos to ensure that delegates from Islamic countries are served *halal* food.

A ranking Phisgoc official tells us they do not listen anymore to criticisms. Phisgoc defenders, stung to the quick by public disgust, also tried painting the whole stark picture of mayhem as nothing but "normal" glitches.

Normal, my ass! It was plain old stupid inefficiency. A far cry from their mantra "we are ready." The sheer arrogance of these people befuddles the mind.

Many are also trying to paint well-meaning complaints and protests as crab mentality. We forcefully take exception to this.

As noted writer Ninotschka Rosca pointed out, "Crab mentality refers to those who nitpick when someone has done something excellent, brilliant, amazing... To be the victim of people with crab mentalities, you have to have done something extremely well, first of all. Have you?"

"Or to put it bluntly, a person who's already in the *burak* (mud) can't be pulled down further. Even by crabs."

On another matter, many point to the construction of world-class facilities as one overwhelming saving grace of the Games. It is all true and good, considering all were built by billions of taxpayers' money. And we, including Filipino athletes, certainly are well-pleased with such sports facilities.

But we cannot even rest easy with such a fact. It comes with a cost. And whatever the cost is will only be fully unraveled and known once the Games are over.

But as of now there are already unnerving reports that something is just not quite right with how the facilities were built, about how these did not go under proper procurement and bidding procedures.

Or about how we inexplicably ended up loaning the billions needed to build these facilities from a Malaysian bank which in turn loaned the monies they lent from our very own Development Bank of the Philippines!

With all these staring in our faces, we cannot join in the call for silence nor be cowed into silence. We fear silence is but a subterfuge to save Alan Peter Cayetano's skin and that of his cohorts.

*Email: nevqjr@yahoo.com.ph*