MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government still has a debt of P387 million to different suppliers during the recent holding of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, which was held in the country in 2019.
This was revealed during the Senate budget hearing of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and Games and Amusement Board on Tuesday.
PSC Executive Director Guillermo Iroy said the PSC has been receiving demand letters from suppliers asking the agency to pay its outstanding debt amounting to P387 million.
He said the PSC has already requested the amount from the Department of Budget and Management so that suppliers will be paid.
“We requested sa DBM an additional P387 million for the remaining payables from the different suppliers during the SEA Games,” he said during the hearing.
“In fact there are many too many demand letters we received. In fact some senators have also received letters from suppliers. We expect that this P387 million will soon be released by the DBM,” Iroy added.
Once the DBM releases the said amount, this will be remitted to the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee, the organizing committee of SEA Games, so that the country’s debt will be paid.
The organizing committee had predicted that the country would need P7.5 billion to host the SEA Games. However, only P5 billion was approved under the 2019 General Appropriations Act.
Iroy said the Office of the President was able to release an additional P1 billion for the annual sporting event, making the total budget for SEA Games to P6 billion.
However, when the sporting event was held, Iroy said “participants, together with the guests, surpassed the number as expected.”
Thus, the PSC had to shell out P800 million more, which is “over and above” the general funds intended for the SEA Games.
This amount was used for sports equipment and the international broadcast of the sporting event.
Even though the country earned about P195 million from the broadcast as well as the accommodation for the delegation, it was used to pay for the expenses for the SEA Games, Iroy said.