Garcia against costly chartered flight to SEA Games

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia ruled out a suggestion to transport the 27th Southeast Asian Games national delegation via chartered flight because of the huge expenses attached to it.  

At the same time, Garcia reiterated his proposal to send a token delegation, probably no more than 50 athletes, to convey a strong message to the host country and the SEA Games Federation itself that “we are not happy with the way many events to be contested were added and scrapped to the detriment of Philippine participation.”

“Transporting our contingent via a chartered flight is impractical for the simple reason that athletes, coaches and delegation officials have to be sent to the site of competitions on a staggered basis,” Garcia said during Friday’s SCOOP session at the Kamayan Restaurant-Padre Faura.

“The bulk of our delegation leaves before the opening ceremonies on Dec. 11. After that, babalik ang eroplano na walang laman pero bayad,” Garcia told SCOOP members by way of reacting to a suggestion made by delegation chef de mission Jeffo Tamayo of soft tennis.  “Several sports, whose events start later in the Games, will follow one after another. Pagkatapos isa-isang dalhin sa Myanmar, babalik uli ang plane na wala ding  laman,”    

“Not only that, there will be teams whose events will be over in the course of competitions before the closing ceremonies. They will be fetched one after another, meaning the plane will be going back and forth from Manila to Myanmar not once, not twice but several times. Just imagine how much money the PSC will be spending just on travel alone.”

“The government has only allotted P30 million for our SEA Games participation and chances are we might spend that entire budget on travel expenses alone if we fly members of our delegation via chartered flights,” he said.

Although admitting that it is not his agency but the Philippine Olympic Committee that has the final say in the decision  on the composition of the national contingent, Garcia said he would insist on a lean delegation capable of winning medals in view of the decision of the host country and the SEA Federation to add events foreign to the Filipino campaigners and scrap those where Filipinos are traditionally strong.

 â€œNo, I’m not advocating a boycott as earlier reported,” Garcia assured. “What I’m saying is, let’s just send a small delegation na mananalo naman ng medalya para sa bansa, preferably medal winners in the last Games.

“Masyado naman yata tayong inapi nang lubos, both by the host country and the SEA Games Federation. We’re no longer complaining, much more protesting, because everything has been set in place. But let it not be said that we’re happy with what they did to us,” the PSC head emphasized.

“The Philippines has been a member of the SEA Games Federation since 36 years ago in 1977. Our admission into the fold, in fact, paved the way for the organization of what it is now SEA Games from the then Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games,” Garcia recalled.

“That is why I am in favor of reviewing the system of giving the host country much leeway in deciding which events will be contested in a particular edition of the Games. What happened this year will happen all over again in the next Games,” Garcia said.

“Okay, let’s give the host the right to choose several events to its liking, I have no quarrel with that.  Pero hindi naman dapat na lahat ng gusto nila masunod,” he added.