By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
Both the Philippine Olympic Committee President, Bambol Tolentino, and the Philippine Sports Commission chairman, Patrick Gregorio, agree in assessing our participation to the just concluded 33rd SEA Games as very successful.
I don’t know what they are actually assessing! I think it’s a jaundiced judgment. Am not sure where they are living.
There were 54 sports contested with a total of 576 golds given out: Thailand got 233 (41%); Indonesia, 91 (16%); Vietnam, 87 (15%); Malaysia, 57 (10%); Singapore and Phil, 9% each
In terms of population, only Indonesia has a bigger one than us. Our 112 million number is almost twice that of Thailand, the overall champion. Malaysia (4th place) has 34 million and Singapore(5th) has a miniscule population of only 6 million.
We have sent more than 1,170 athletes, the most that we have dispatched outside of the country, in the Games. Our officials predicted a 60-gold medal haul but we fell short by 10 golds. And the aim of our sports leaders was a low 4th place finish
In such a scenario, to flaunt a 6th place finish in the “weak” 10-nation sports conclave as a triumph, befuddles a normal mind. It is certainly as hallow as the original donut.
In the current government evaluation of our plans, failing to attain the intended goal is an utter failure. You don’t pass, you don’t get a bonus in our reward system.
The country’s performance in the 2025 SEA Games is an abject debacle, not a success. Instead of feeling embarrassed, officials stated with a smile that we got the gold in sports that matter most to Filipinos: basketball. But of the 4 golds at stake, we only got 2. They proudly added that we scooped the highest number of bronze medals conveniently forgetting that gold is the standard of performance. They are trying to hoodwink us, the Filipinos, not to hear the loud thud of their failure.
Shades of a previous POC president who unabashedly declared after a SEA Games that bronze shines like gold.
The athletes, the coaches, and the trainers have done their damned best under trying circumstances. Salute to them. But where were the officials before and after the Games?
With a huge pool of athletes to choose from, one wonders why we are often teetering in 4th-6th places in the standings. The exception is when we hosted the Games and won it 2x already.
This is mainly due to an advantage afforded to hosts of deciding which sports to add and how they run the events. This is a farce (to borrow the recent words of one NSA head).
It seems that we are doing the same things over and over, not leveling up. That is to say, our major sports officials are not discharging their work as they are supposed to. They are contented just to be recognized as a head of so-and-so, not as somebody who had impacted the growth or improvement of sports
I have been involved in sports games-local, regional, and national- for decades. Had seen how officials treat athletes as people way below their levels. I even personally experienced being shouted at in national competitions as a chess player, for a supposed violation before the games started (to think that I was already a professor that time). It was a shameless show of power tripping.
The case involving Congressman Richard Gomez, a well-known sportsman who got a silver medal in shooting during the Games, is symptomatic of what ails our national sports world. In a fit of unbridled anger, Gomez made “batok” of the president of the Phil Fencing Assoc. who is much older than him.
It was caught by social media and therefore in full view of international audience. No apology, no remorse. Only justification why he did it. He was there as an athlete, but he can’t dissociate that from his being a congressman. No matter how justifiable or not what he did, it was a manifestation of his disrespect to authorities, irreverence to elders and certainly a disgraceful manner of a public official.
Concerned citizens asked with derision: Is Gomez a “mambabatas or mambabatok”?
The official concerned may also had questionable actions that may have been borne out of his lack of proper way in handling the affairs of his association. And this was also contributory to the unfortunate incident.
Much earlier, I heard POC president Bambol Tolentino said after the athletes’ performance, “Every great journey begins with a dream. Every victory is built on sacrifice, hard work and unbreakable spirit. They did not just compete, they inspired”.
We say to officials, “Make the athletes’ dreams, sacrifices and hard work a reality by providing real and pro-active leadership, proper support and better atmosphere for improvement of athletes, be role models of temperance and reputable manners, and discard condescending attitudes”.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!
