Let us set our thoughts on something happy when Mayor Digong was president and we became champions of the 30th Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines in 2019.

Notwithstanding the lamentations of Senator Franklin Drilon, the 30th SEA games turned out to be a stunning success for our country.

Many Filipinos look up to Drilon as a man of success for having been appointed to several posts under two administrations, for having assumed positions of leadership in 19 other government agencies, and for having been elected four times to the third highest government position in the land, the Senate presidency.

No doubt within that period of no less than 33 years, the lawmaker from Iloilo, through hard work and dedication, had achieved an enviable record of success in government service.

His achievements though must have gone to his head and he lost his sense of balance and propriety.

At 2:22 p.m. on 18 November 2019, barely two weeks before the opening of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in the Philippines, opposition Senator Drilon questioned the P50-million Sea Games cauldron:

“We could’ve built 50 classrooms. Is it valid, is it just that we do away with 50 classrooms to build a P50-million caldero that we’ll use only once?”

Senator Drilon was a disappointment. What he said about the cauldron shocked me. He should have said something else to inspire our athletes.

If he really had a valid reason and evidence of corruption in the erection of the cauldron, he should have waited for the right time when the games were all over, so as not to unnecessarily embarrass our leaders who were working very hard to put on a world-class sporting event, and unwittingly showing our lack of unity and love for each other as a people.

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano explained it very well:

“(It) is the symbol of the 30th Sea Games. While some people see it simply as a cauldron, we see it as a monument. We see the athletes, we see the flames that represent hope and the fighting spirit.”

If my parents were alive, they would have been disappointed to hear those words from Senator Drilon.

My parents used to bring my sister and me to the Capiz high school stadium. They woke us up at 5 o’clock in the morning to watch ball games and athletics till sundown.

I played basketball when I was in high school and my family always put me in top shape to win and be champion.

That was how it was when I was preparing for a school tournament. My game was always a family concern.

How much more when the country is preparing for an international meet, when our athletes and sports leaders are preparing to host an Olympic-type competition? It becomes the concern of every citizen, of every leader, of every senator, including Senator Drilon.

But Drilon, sad to say, had something else in mind. He knew that months before the games, advance parties of the participating teams were already in town.

Instead of talking about sports, Senator Drilon talked about the infrastructure project of President Duterte. With the acceptance rating of the President and the country’s economy soaring to the sky, he thought of a way to pull him down. Hit where it hurts.

Destroy the flagship project with fake news! “Build, Build, Build is a dismal failure.”

When most of the foreign athletes were in town, Senator Drilon again voiced his mind. “Investigation” instead of inspiration.

“Special audit” instead of physical regimentation to get ready for competition.

Retired and senior auditors were saying that yellow Senator Drilon called on his equally “yellow friends” in the Commission on Audit to conduct a special audit on the country’s hosting of the SEA Games. (To be continued)