PSC Chairman Butch Ramirez, DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and POC president Peping Cojuangco during the formal announcement of 2019 SEA Games hosting.
Filipino athletes will have a voice on how the Philippines should efficiently run the hosting of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee chair Alan Peter Cayetano assured Thursday that the athletes would be involved in the selection of venues where their respective sports would be held.
READ: PSC gives 2019 SEA Games hosting green light
“The athletes are the ones who will compete and it will be difficult if someone else will decide for them,’’ said Cayetano during the formal announcement of the country’s SEAG hosting at the Marriott Hotel in Paranaque City.
Philippine Sports Commission chair Butch Ramirez and Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco Jr. will co-chair the organizing committee with Cayetano, who also sits as Department of Foreign Affairs secretary.
“I’m taking the lead from Sir Butch (Ramirez) that the athletes should be consulted,’’ said Cayetano. “With social media and the direct means of communication, we can really consult more people.’’
READ: PSC on top of SEA Games preparations
While patiently putting the organizing committee together, Cayetano said they’re considering to hold the Games in Bulacan, Pampanga and Zambales.
He also thanked Senator Migz Zubiri, who was initially designated as chair of the organizing committee, for the groundwork of setting up the organization.
There was no mention yet on the figures that the government will spend for bringing the 11-nation sportsfest on local turf but Ramirez assured that the hosting budget can be embedded in the PSC allocation from the General Appropriations Act.
READ: POC still not giving up on SEA Games hosting
“In the course of our discussion with the sports committee (at the House of Representatives), there’s great hope that they will allocate money for the hosting and even the PSI (Philippine Sports Institute) budget,’’ said Ramirez.
Cojuangco and Ramirez also functioned in their current positions during the 2005 Manila SEA Games where the Philippines captured its first overall title.
“We’ve seen the effects of the 2005 hosting and this is how important it is for our country,’’ said Cojuangco. “I hope this will add more impetus for everyone to contribute to this effort, because this is
not for Peping or Secretary Cayetano or Butch Ramirez. This is for the country.’’
Cayetano will arrange a meeting with Cojuangco over the next few days and attend the turnover ceremonies during the closing rites of the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games on Aug. 30.
“It’s more of putting a system so everybody will have duties appealable to us. The three of us (with Cojuangco and Ramirez) have agreed to do it the Asean way, which is by consensus,’’ said Cayetano.
The Philippine hosting was initially shelved after the government explained that it would just focus on the rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi City.
Ramirez said talks were revived to save the hosting early this week through the efforts of Presidential Assistant Christopher Lawrence Go, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Cayetano.