Philippine Sports Commission Chair Butch Ramirez apologized for the delay of the planned renovations of sports facilities and vowed to finish them by the time the country stages the Southeast Asian Games in December 2019.
One of those shelved was the construction of the athletes’ canteen that would cater to the specific nutritional needs of the athletes. It was supposed to open last November.
“My apologies. We will work on the facilities immediately,” said Ramirez. “The problem was procurement, which is complicated. It is not easy especially with big amount of money involved.”
Targeted for upgrading are facilities inside Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, Philsports and those in Baguio City.
“We will see these (improvements) in the SEA Games,” added Ramirez.
Renovations were supposed to begin January 2017 but Ramirez said they were delayed by bidding procedures.
“When you hold biddings, the problem is you get a lot of love letters from losing bidders,” added the sports chief.
He didn’t reveal the amount earmarked for the renovations although the entire undertaking, including the construction of major sports facilities in Clark, is reportedly going to cost the government P1 billion.
Ramirez joined Foreign Affairs Sec. Alan Peter Cayetano, Philippine Olympic Committee president Ricky Vargas and presidential adviser on sports Dennis Uy in presenting the 2019 SEA Games hosting to the Olympic Council of Asia in Jakarta recently.