"Go for Gold! Condemn the Condemnable!"
(A note on the South East Asian Games,
the corrupt activities and inefficiencies of its organisers,
and the athlete's fight for gold amidst inconveniences)
At first, this page is ought to say that whilst praising Filipino sportsmanship, does not mean shrugging off its controversies such as those surrounding this South East Asian games.
For right from the start, the Duterte regime has taketh the opportunity of making the South East Asian games as any other panem et circenses event in a time being barraged by criticisms over issues on sovereignty to those of drug war and its extrajudicial killings. From this opportunity, especially after supposed host Brunei chose to decline, as well as the reconsideration after its initial withdrawal (to focus on Rehabilitation Efforts in Marawi) has further justifies Duterte's desire to "put a positive light" his administration amidst actually-existing problems.
What more that this event has also been a means to make interests on it. That officials like Speaker Allan Peter Cayetano, through his "Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organising Committee" hath been culpable for a big plunder scheme by allotting a budget of more than 6 billion pesos and then borrowing from a Malaysian bank 11 billion pesos (which is denominated in US dollars) for the construction of facilities. Other issues like food, lodging, and even transport for the athletes hath been an object of ridicule as news outlets reported these inconvenient matters.
Of course, apologists would express denial over that action taken, if not to assert that those structures as not just meant for the games but also for future purposes if not to express "Filipino Pride". Some would even report about the latest "improvements" just to dispel rumors, that somehow would say "good" in an attempt to spread "positive light" towards the games as good food been served to athletes compared to its first few days of unbalanced diets; but doesn't stop people from seeking truth to expose such inconveniences brought about by interest-seekers.
But regardless of those denials or assertions by apologists, this interest seeking act brought about by politicos claiming to be "for sports development", "for making Philippines great" and all the likes hath made this event be mismanaged or worse, corrupted by their misdeeds. In fact, in sharp contrast, the budget for the Games last 2005 was only 300 million pesos yet end successful.
For now would say that people should celebrate this week-long season of sportsmanship. And as patriots it becomes a duty to rally under the flag and to support its team all for gold and its glories, given their countless times of hard work, streneous efforts to claim those prizes and acclaim; but, hope this doesn't mean to stop altogether in seeking truth from facts and to condemn those who put self-interests even in this season of the games, especially when its apologists would still try to keep firm that no criticism would ever be vented nor making an impression that SEA Games as above politics and clean fun.
But with the problems been faced ranging from a million-peso cauldron to Cayetano's conflict of interest between his speakership or as head of that foundation, these and other corrupt activities trumps their delusion of a claiming to be an immaculate event.
After all, sports is not supposed to be for fun alone- it is meant for war as Athenians and Spartans do. For as what Guillaume Faye said:
"Should we then condemn sport? Not if it is understood as physical exercise for amateurs, if it serves to improve bodily performances in an intelligent way or to train for combat. In these cases, sport is targeted: it has a purpose. The Olympic games of ancient Greece, which today have utterly lost their original meaning, were in no way ‘sporting events’: they were a form of military training. There were no professionals at the Olympics, only amateurs.
The globalised sport spectacle of today has two functions: it stirs false and infantilising enthusiasm for non-events which neutralise people’s ideological and political conscience; and they feed a new sector of the entertainment industry which creates very few jobs but is often infiltrated by mafias, while mobilising huge financial resources from which many profit."