Philippine Southeast Asian Games organising committee chair Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday night vowed to leave behind the bickering among sports officials as he tried to rally Team Philippines toward the overall title in the coming Games.
Speaking before some 1,300 national athletes and coaches during the pep rally and concert spearheaded by GoPilipinasGo movement, Cayetano said: “We will try work harder. We will try to get along better, we will try to get more funds.’
It was a show of solidarity among sports officials as Cayetano shared the stage with Philippine Sports Commission Butch Ramirez, chief of mission Monsour del Rosario, Philippine Olympic Committee board member Jonne and Philspada head Mike Barredo.
Cayetano told the athletes to just stay focused on training as they released white doves in a symbolic gesture of unity.
“It’s a humbling experience for myself, for chairman Butch, and for everyone here on stage because you the athletes continue to teach us a lot,’’ said Cayetano.
"It’s easy to say win as one, but there’s a lot of hard work that we should put into winning as one,’’ added the former senator and secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Leading the Filipino legends who took the stage and inspired the athletes were bowling Hall of Famer Bong Coo, Olympic bronze medalist in taekwondo Stephen Fernandez, SEA Games and Asian Games wushu champ Willy Wang.
"We have two objectives. One is we need to win the overall title and secondly, we want the 10 other countries to say na iba talaga mag-host ang pinoy,’’ said Cayetano.
Olympic weightlifting silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz, SEAG back-to-back triathlon gold winner Nikko Huelgas and World gymnastics bronze medalist Caloy Yulo also exhorted their fellow athletes through videos they made while training abroad.
