The SEA Games

We are now living in very interesting times and I hope that when the smoke settles, our country and its people would not suffer permanent damage.

We all have our opinions whether it is right or wrong to allow former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to travel for medical treatment and since we are not experts, it might be prudent not to add fuel to the fire.

Even the legal experts cannot agree on the matter, so the best thing to do is to be vigilant and think of our nation and our countrymen before we take any action.

Since this is supposed to be a sports column, so I am moving on to what I am supposed to write.

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With so many things happening in our country, many may not have noticed that the top athletes of Southeast Asia are now gathered in Indonesia for the SEA Games.

The Philippines, which won the overall title in 2005, has fared rather poorly in the next two editions.

In 2005, we hosted the competition and Cebu was lucky to have been made the host of the pencak silat, sepak takraw, mountain biking, karatedo, and judo events.

This year’s competition looks like another one where the Philippines will fall short of its projections.

Chairman Richie Garcia of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) predicted 70 gold medals.

As of this writing, the Philippines has won 19 gold medals, and there are only a few more days to go before the event will officially close, which makes the target of 70 gold medals somewhat too high.

Aside from the 19 golds, the Philippines has also won 33 silvers and 40 bronze medals.

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The 14th Aboitiz Cup is scheduled to kick off today at the Aboitiz Sports Field in Subangdaku, Mandaue City.

The Aboitiz Cup is the current longest-running football tournament in this part of the world.

The tournament will feature several categories to cater to all ages of foot enthusiasts.

In the past, you talk of the mini, midget, juniors, and seniors divisions only. Now the groups a designated based on the ages of the players.

Even the seniors class had to be broken up into different age groups with guys my age given the opportunity to also play against those from our generation.

Football is the world’s number one. Although much still needs to be done in this part of the world for football, it has a huge following and more players are enjoying the game.

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MILESTONES: Belated birthday greetings to my brother-in-law Eddie G. Reyes, who turned a year older last Thursday.

Today’s greetings go to my nephew Nicholas Leon Quiñones, Jun Yu, and Ermabelle Acol.

Advance greetings go to Ella Aliganga-Po, Ritchel Regina Castillo, Ronald Conopio, and Julius Quipot.

More power to all of you!