JOINT EFFORT for Seag 2019
AS the ongoing construction of the UP-Davao City Sports Complex shifts to high gear, stakeholders agree that the feasibility of hosting the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games need to be a joint effort.
Major key players Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), city government of Davao and the University of the Philippines (UP) are expected to spearhead the daunting task to host the Games that eyes some 10,000 delegates from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam and Singapore.
Thus, UP System vice-president for development Elvira Zamora hosted a meeting with PSC chairman William "Butch" Ramirez, Davao City Third District Rep. Alberto T. Ungab and UP Mindanao officials led by Chancellor Sylvia B. Concepcion at the Quezon Hall, UP Diliman in Quezon City Friday.
UP Mindanao Department of Human Kinetics chair Erwin E. Protacio, in an e-mailed statement, said necessary preparations for Davao City to host some of the events of the 2019 SEA Games were tackled.
"Status of the stages of completion of structures such as the football stadium, civil works of the football pitch and track oval, artificial turf and synthetic track installation and the construction of the aquatic center were reported during the meeting," Protacio said.
He also said that the group also underscored that assistance from other government agencies, private individuals, corporations and Mindanao public officials will be of great help to making the hosting a succes.
He added that Chairman Ramirez and Cong. Ungab will hold a series of meetings to mobilize resources and other support, especially coming from President Rodrigo R. Duterte to realize the 2019 SEA Games hosting.
Ramirez, in an earlier interview with Sun.Star Davao, said the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) wanted to bring the country's hosting to Davao City. Thus, he sent last July a technical inspection team to evaluate and assess the facilities under construction and already available in Davao City and in Tagum City, which boasts of its Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex.
The PSC inspection team suggested a speedy construction of the UPDavao City sports complex and at the same time hoping that the University of Mindanao sports complex and the King Dome of Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy's Jesus Christ The Name Above Every Name will also be completed by 2018.
The same team, composed of Commissioners Charles Raymond A. Maxey and Arnold Agustin, Ronnel Abrenica from the PSC Chairman's Office, Engr. Eduardo Clariza, Architect Noel Elnar and Alona Quintos of the PSC planning and program department, also cited the lack of three-star hotels in Davao del Norte to accommodate SEA Games delegates although they lauded its sports facilities.
Davao del Norte is hosting the Batang Pinoy Games and the Philippine Olympic Committee-Philippine Sports Commission (POC-PSC) National Games sometime in November while Davao City plans to bid for the hosting of the 2019 Palarong Pambansa.