It’s time to gear up for Vietnam, Manila SEA Games

House Committee on Youth and Sports chairman Monico Puentevella yesterday urged the country’s top sports leaders to begin, as soon as possible, their preparations not only for the 22nd Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam next year but also for the 2005 staging of the biennial meet in the Philippines.

Puentevella, formerly of the Philippine Sports Commission, also launched a move that would try to convince President Arroyo to finally decide on which city or province would serve as the main hub of the 2005 SEA Games. Among those bidding for the right to host the event are Manila, Bacolod, Iloilo and Pampanga.

The Bacolod congressman also batted for a bigger budget for sports, saying this is the only way that the Filipino athletes can go to the next level in terms of performance as shown in their successful stint in the recent Busan Asian Games where they won three gold, seven silver and 16 bronze medals.

"Budget for sports would have to be increased if we want to fare better in the Asian Games and the SEA Games," said Puentevella yesterday in a post-Asiad inquiry attended by PSC chairman Eric Buhain and Philippine Olympic Committee president Celso Dayrit and other sports officials.

Congressman Harry Angpin of Manila also sponsored a bill seeking the construction of a new stadium that would be used for the 2005 SEA Games.

Track and field president Go Teng Kok, who failed to produce a single medal in Busan, came and, as expected, stole the show when he accused Dayrit and Tom Carrasco, the RP chief of mission to the Asian Games, of favoring some national sports associations regarding their inclusion to the RP delegation to the South Korean port city.

The hearing, however, was adjourned shortly after due to a more pressing House engagement. It has been reset to a later date, probably after the break, which starts tomorrow and ends on the second week of November.

"I did not like the hearing to be transformed into a political arena," Puentevella later said.