My country deserves better
Finally, the 29th Southeast Asian Games came to a close, ending a week and a half where the Philippines endured loss after loss after loss after loss, got cheated on so many fronts, and fell short on so many others. Some events were painful to watch, since we know that our athletes are capable of so much more. If not for the brilliant discoveries in athletics, boxing and martial arts, can you imagine how much worse it would have been? We would have been slumming with the also-rans of the region. The only dignity we salvaged was being at the bottom of the top half of the field, just one frail rung above the regular doormats. Instead of sticking our chests out in pride, we place our foreheads in our palms and wonder how we have fallen so far.
The bold projection of 50 gold medals made by our chief of mission was a stretch to begin with. First, nobody doublechecked the projections of the national sports associations. Secondly, there is always a margin for error. Third, the other countries would also have hidden cards to play. And lastly, host Malaysia definitely would have a say which sports they could pick gold medals from even before any of the games were even played. Also, the high number of bronze medals shows that many of our athletes were still not at the level where they could contend for a gold outright. Think about that last statement for a moment, and you’ll realize the Philippines was even lucky to finish sixth. We deserve better. Much better. Let’s dwell on the deep chest of dirty tricks that Malaysia pulled. Scheduling alone cost the country at least two golds, probably a few more. This writer pointed out the obvious attempt to deny sprinter Eric Cray of multiple golds, and the backto-back games of Perlas Pilipinas against Thailand and a rested Malaysia in a span of 13 hours. Our gold medal-winning, history-making ice hockey team also voiced complaints. Two key players were only allowed to play on the day of their first match. They were given a rest day on the first day of competition, forcing them to play their four elimination round matches straight. Their team captain was suspended from playing in the final. Thank the stars they won.
When the current Philippine Sports Commission board was appointed, chairman Butch Ramirez was armed with the full monthly allocation from PAGCOR as prescribed by the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) Law, not just half, as what had been happening for a quarter of a century. He repeatedly told the NSAs that he would double their budgets, but only if they presented clear programs and liquidated past expenses. Many hard-headed sports leaders did not comply right away, or did not comply at all. Up until the month before the SEA Games, we were reading about unaccounted funds reaching all the way back to 2005, tainting those glorious days of our own SEA Games. And that shining moment already seems like a lifetime ago.
The call by the leadership of the Philippine Olympic Committee to move on and focus on the Philippine SEA Games of 2019 is premature. In any professional organization, every project is considered unfinished until a postevaluation is done. It can be tedious and painful, but the learning prevents mistakes from being repeated. The only reasons to skip over the process would be a lack of awareness of it (which is highly unlikely at this level of organization), or an unwillingness to face fatal flaws in planning and organization (which is more believable). Intentionally setting up our national athletes to fail internationally is the ultimate betrayal of their trust, and intentionally wasting hundreds of millions of pesos in taxpayers’ money. It is akin to treason. If any business did that, they would go bankrupt, and their investors would sue for their money back.
In 2005, this writer and the late Ronnie Nathanielsz spoke out publicly against the mishandling of the case of basketball. In reprisal, both of us were banned from the entire television coverage of the SEA Games in our own country. After having served as an executive producer for four sports in 1991, this was very painful. Yet, this writer kept quiet about the petty retaliation. Speaking out was the right thing to do. If doing so again gets me banned from the 2019 coverage as well, so be it. One has to do what one has to do.
In sports, practice should be so hard that actual competition would feel easy by comparison. In the SEA Games, there were so many surprises for our athletes that they were not ready for. Are we going to blame them? Do commanders blame their soldiers for high casualty rates and failed missions? No. Planning and preparation are command responsibility. Admit to your mea culpas.