The pace of preparations for the coming 30th Southeast Asian Games is expected to pick up in the coming days.
This after the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee has been given the green light to go ahead with its plans to procure the needed equipment, book hotel reservations and get the necessary things to help biennial meet run smoothly nine months from now.
A budget allocation of at least P3.7 billion has been earmarked by the Philippine Sports Commission for this purpose last week.
The office of Deputy Executive Director Atty. Guillermo Iroy will now coordinate with the Phisgoc after Congress approved and appropriated P5.1 billion for the Games.
The said allocation for the Games has been included in the budget of the PSC.
Agency officials said 75 percent of the Games budget will go to accommodation and transportation expenses, while around 25 percent will be set aside for technical officials and information technology.
During a meeting with PHISGOC officials, it was decided that hotel and billeting services will no longer be bidded out.
The meeting of the PHISGOC and the PSC got under way while a board meeting of the Philippine Olympic Committee Executive board unanimously approved a resolution which formalized the POC’s authorizaty of the PHISGOC as the SEA Games organizing committee.
The resolution also confirmed the appointment of former Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Peter Cayetano as PHISGOC chairman, which, according o Vargas, was ‘solely for the purpose of the coming SEA Games.”
It also authorized Vargas to enter into a cooperative agreement with PHISGOC and PSC.
Under the agreement, the POC will supervise the activities of the PHISGOC for the benefit of the SEA Games Federation.
“The responsibilities in our cooperative agreement are clear,” said Vargas. “The POC has control of the Games or the content, PSC the funding primarily for the training of athletes and PHISGOC the staging of the SEA Games, including production, marketing and media.
It was also agreed that unused PHISGOC funds will be donated to POC for the benefit of Filipino athletes, and that regular operations/financial /management reports will be submitted by PHISGOC to POC.
The agreement also stated that all contracts entered into by PHISGOC will be reviewed by an assigned POC Board Member.
The POC Executive Board finalized their decision last Friday, with former POC president Jose Cojuangco, Jr. joining the deliberations with chairman Rep. Abraham Tolentino, first vice president Joey Romasanta, second vice president Tony Tamayo, secretary-general Patrick Gregorio, deputy secretary-general Karen Caballero, and spokesman Ed Picson among others.