Julian Camacho describes 26th SEA Games as ‘most chaotic’

JAKARTA—After just one day in this traffic-heavy Indonesian capital, one of two acting Philippine chiefs of mission to the 26th Southeast Asian Games has already described the 26th edition here as the “most chaotic” he has ever seen.

“Ito na ang pinaka-magulo (this is the most chaotic),” Julian Camacho, the wushu federation secretary general, told the Inquirer Monday.

“Billeting has been a problem for (athletes of) most countries and I hope it doesn’t happen to us.”

Camacho made the rounds checking the venues for the events to be held here even as the Philippine secretariat braces for the arrival of the bulk of Filipino athletes starting Wednesday.

“Our request was for 22 total vehicles for the Philippine delegation in Jakarta alone,” Camacho, who was the CDM in Malaysia in 2003, said. “But now they have reduced that to 17 for both here and in Palembang.”

Camacho was also in the advance party that checked on the venues in West Java last month and he recalled how it took them close to 12 hours to make the trip back to Jakarta because of the traffic.

In the meantime, Jonne Go, the secretary general of the canoe/kayak team who flew in ahead of her association’s delegation, is pinning their gold medal hopes on 22-year-old Danny Funelas.

Funelas finished seventh in the Asian Championships last month in Iran where he emerged as the best Southeast Asian paddler.

He will see action in the 1,000-meter individual canoe and in the 2,000-meter doubles with Norwell Cajes.

Scheduled in Lake Cipule, canoe/kayak starts Nov. 11 with Funelas seeking to improve on his personal best of four-minutes and 16.87 seconds for the distance and win gold for the Philippines.

“We are counting on Danny to win the gold and are expecting at least a bronze with (his partnership with) Norwell,” said Go, who bared that the last canoe/kayak medal came in the 2005 Games in Manila courtesy of Jeremiah Tambor.