Games people play

“It must be true what they say that Filipinos are a blessed lot because, when push comes to shove, we somehow end up proving ourselves to be strong, enduring and united in a common goal.

“We’re not a perfect nation, but, boy, are we good at sports!”

That was a recent post from a former staff of this paper, expressing pride for the 386 medals, 149 of which are golds, reaped by our many athletes at the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

The Philippine flag was raised so many times these past 11 days — spine-tingling, chest-puffing, joy-filled moments our countrymen, too often deflated by challenges and controversies, will remember forever.

More pride filled our hearts at the many “firsts” the Philippines lodged at the SEA Games — from successfully undertaking the first-ever indoor opening ceremonies in the history of the Games to gaining the first gold medal for the Philippine women’s basketball team.

All these made the initial stops and starts seem excusable now, from the travails of media ID release to the “magic kikiam,” to the accommodation hullabaloo and golden cauldron uproar.

The day after the closing ceremonies, we can look back and assess where we were, how we performed beyond the Games and how we can deftly proceed having learned our lessons well. Right now, we are left awestruck by the Filipino athletes’ performance at the Games — and we do not just mean the glorious medal tally that cinched the overall championship for the country.

More than these mementoes of human kinetics — the biggest haul our country has ever had in the SEA Games, surpassing previous showings — the world witnessed something far greater: the Filipino spirit.

This quality that has endured through all the pains and travails our race has gone through in the last millennium shone through once more as exemplified by that selfless act of one surfer in the midst of the Games.

Now touted as “hero surfer,” Roger Casugay will be conferred the Order of Lapu-Lapu by President Rodrigo Duterte, who will also give the award to all the medalists at the just-concluded sporting event.

Casugay made waves after he helped Indonesian competitor Arip Nurhidayat in a surfing event, choosing to sacrifice his chance at the gold in order to help bring his fellow surfer to safety after his ankle leash broke amid wild waves. Indonesia thanked the humble Pinoy surfer and the Philippines lapped up the glory.

Casugay and all the bemedaled athletes will receive the distinction in a ceremony in Malacañang on 18 December, as disclosed by Sen. Bong Go recently. President Rodrigo Duterte’s decades-old aide and ally summed it all up when he said, “That moment is the epitome of the official slogan of the 30th Southeast Asian Games: We Win as One. It exemplified the Filipino value of bayanihan.”

If there is anything that should be a source of pride for us, it is that one shining moment that gave our culture the boost it needs. Although we may be grappling with our own challenges, these are trying times in our world, where food and fuel are main sources of conflict, where territorial disputes rise above environmental concerns and where people very often get sacrificed for power or profit.

It must be true what they say that Filipinos are a blessed lot because, when push comes to shove, we somehow end up proving ourselves to be strong, enduring and united in a common goal.

It is too bad that we only glimpse it through events like the SEA Games, or international pageants.

It is also sad and unfortunate that we must continue to be distracted in our path to greatness by guiltless one-upmanship, or un-gamesmanship, if there is such a thing.

The surest signs to this, we must admit, were the logistical nightmares, the questionable path of the SEA Games multibillion budget and the thought that with such a huge amount, the whole thing should have been close to perfect.

And yet, in spite of the excellent showing of our truly heroic athletes, who now proved once more — 386 times, in fact — just how far we can still go if sports really got the support it had long needed from the Philippine government, we have a bitter taste in our mouth knowing that something may have been inherently wrong in the motivations of certain officials in handling these Games.

Which leaves us to wonder: how is it that when it comes to sports competitions, we can play fair and come out as winners? Yet when it comes to serving citizens, some can be so callous and careless, even possibly knowing full well that we would only all come out as losers?