There were more issues that Cayetano’s team hoped would have been forgotten after the elaborate opening ceremonies that cost our pockets all of P642 million.

It is often a humorous image, a video, a piece of text or anything that can be posted on the web, especially on social media, that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users.

What is not news could not be fake news, however.

News is a printed or broadcast report of information about important events in the world, the country, or a local area.

It contains important — sometimes unimportant — facts and often carries the name, place and time of the event and its circumstances. The five Ws and one H. It’s that basic.

It was an error for House Speaker and Philippine Southeast Asian Games Committee (Phisgoc) chairman Alan Peter Cayetano to quickly dismiss what he called were fake news about his handling of the biennial meet that the country is presently hosting in Clark, Subic and several areas in Metro Manila.

Cayetano centered on the widely spread image of a Philippine flag that was used as a tablecloth for a previous event unrelated to the SEA Games as an example. That meme was reportedly spread by trolls, which at these times of social media wars, could mean coming from all sides trying to muddle up issues in favor of their payroll masters.

These are usually people maintaining troll farms working for politicians. There are no more off-seasons in politics. Every day has become a campaign day for each and every one of them. They have created an industry that doesn’t pay taxes.

His team also centered on the claim by one Filipino coach who complained about the food served as breakfast for her athletes. It was merely kikiam and egg served with rice, she said.

She later retracted, but not after she got some nice words from several officials who told her to move on.

The Phisgoc presented a well-known chef to explain that it was not kikiam afterall. It was sausage that was served with the egg and rice. Nice.

Only that it looked like kikiam after the hotel staff reportedly tried to tweak the sausage with spices. That’s what he said. Nice.

We all know what kikiam looks and tastes like, however. But okay, let us move on.

Cayetano, however, did not address the more serious issues that hounded his welcome of the thousands of athletes and officials from the 10 other Southeast Asian nations.

A prince from one of the guest countries was served with food with peanuts despite informing Phisgoc and the hotel management about his allergies.

Muslim athletes and officials were fed pork. That is a no-no, a matter of life and death for them, whose religion and beliefs should be respected as we respect ours.

Guest athletes and officials were given a shabby welcome. Some of them were made to sleep on the floor after their red-eye flights. Phisgoc did not seem ready for all these arrivals and only adjusted as the situations got worse.

Some teams opted to transfer to other hotels because Phisgoc had failed to provide them any when needed.

There were more issues that Cayetano’s team hoped would have been forgotten after the elaborate opening ceremonies that cost our pockets all of P642 million.

The total budget for our last hosting of the SEA Games was merely P500 million. Government shelled out just P350 million, San Miguel Corp. doled out P100 million and other private companies chipped in the remaining P50 million.

The Philippine team emerged as the overall champion that year. With P6 billion in total budget this year, we could hope for another overall championship from our wards this time.

The SEA Games, however, were not without controversies from the start.

Cayetano is leading Phisgoc that was originally created for the Games hosting. The chiefs of the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) are acting as co-vice chairmen.

But there is another entity called Phisgoc Foundation.

Cayetano is no longer part of Phisgoc Foundation. But his staff and some of his trusted men and women are part of the foundation that signed deals with private sponsors.

It is not confusing which runs the SEA Games show between them.

The latest news, however, is that President Rodrigo Duterte is unhappy with how the Games’ hosting has turned out.

He has reportedly ordered PSC chairman William “Butch” Ramirez to “take over the management of the Games” from Phisgoc.

The President does not want any discomfiture for the country, the Daily Tribune source said.

The honor of hosting the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games fell upon the Philippines in 2017, after some hullabaloo with determining the next host country after Malaysia.

Everything that happened since then seemed to come together in Saturday’s opening ceremonies which, to this non-sports-oriented writer, appeared to hold the entire nation’s combined hopes and expectations in one golden cauldron.

The opening, according to friends, was excellent — comments ranged from “so nice” to “good” to “better than we imagined” — because it showcased the various “colors” of Filipino culture, giving beautiful tribute to the many ethnicities and talents we have in our archipelago.

The musical performances certainly did not disappoint, and the outfits were, of course, exceptional.

President Rodrigo Duterte was evidently enjoying himself — getting a good break from the heavy concerns of daily leading, obviously — and the 20,000-plus audience at the Philippine Arena no doubt had that unforgettable and rare experience of being in the thick of a major sporting event in the history of the Philippines.

We, Filipinos, like to say we are humble and self-effacing, but the truth is we are proud, and we like to impress.

This has been evident in this current SEA Games hosting, where issues came to stir a cauldron of thick and steaming controversies.

If there is anything we should take away from it all by the end of 11 December 2019, it is that we, Filipinos, will really and truly only “win as one.”

Here’s a thought: what would happen if we focused on the good and support the positive throughout these Games?

The SEA Games are here. We are the host, and we want to deliver an impressive performance, don’t we?

The politics behind the scenes has undoubtedly created fissures among us, and that feeling sort of resurfaced amid the collective high of the opening ceremonies when Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano spoke about it.

Acknowledging the challenges and difficulties is fine, it is true, but that reminder also, in a way, put a damper on the fire in the cauldron, so to speak.

Which brings us to the cauldron-lighting moment. Some commented that had it been shown live, that moment could have been extra powerful.

Not that it wasn’t special — in fact, the fireworks expressed the pride we all feel for such a showing.

There was no doubt in our minds that the “Philippine team” in the creative and production aspects would be impressive. And they were. As the first-ever indoor SEA Games opening ceremonies, the wow factor upped the Pinoy pride meter anew.

Team spirit reigned in the Philippine Arena on Saturday as our world-class Filipino talents came through for the country to present our best. That, and a “high degree of competence,” as one netizen observed.

All the wranglings, complaints, fake news, bad news and ill will dissipated in the brightness of our best. It makes one think about how we are as a people — to ourselves and to others. It pushes us to give some serious thought to our inclinations, our actions versus our words, as well as the way we show to ourselves the pride and respect we strive for and demand from the rest of the world.

The SEA Games are a showcase of the region’s greatness of spirit, the member countries’ solidarity and our own country’s capabilities and potential.

While our athletes give their all in the competitions, fueled by their passions and love for country, perhaps we can show our support by being vigilant and cooperative, involved and encouraging.

As of this writing, the country has reaped some gold medals in the Games, a sure sign of positivity and drive inspired by the team spirit we witnessed in the opening ceremonies.

Never mind the questions roiling in our heads about the ₱7.5 billion budget — and set aside the crabby negativity we seem to exhibit when stakes are high.

In the realm of the SEA Games, we, Filipinos, are our harshest critics. So, it may be a horrendous effort, but at this point, we all have to pitch in, strive for the goal, hit the ground running or whatever sports-related saying you can think of. The theme says it all, you know.