This is in connection with your editorial, “Probe SEA Games funds” (10/17/20). Former speaker Alan Peter Cayetano’s stubborn refusal to honor the gentleman’s agreement (speakership-sharing deal) he forged with Speaker Lord Alan Velasco may be due to his fear of having to answer “inconvenient” questions regarding the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) anomaly.
Cayetano was, as the editorial stated, the creator and chair of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc), a private entity with a P6.8 billion fund. The SEAG was a national shame, and President Duterte had to apologize for the discomfiture suffered by participants. Now, people who were tasked to provide manpower have also failed to receive payment for services rendered.
Phisgoc still owes about P387 million to various suppliers of the SEAG. They have been receiving “too many” demand letters from these suppliers, said Philippine Sports Commission executive director Guillermo Iroy in the Senate committee hearing for their proposed budget. Iroy said they are requesting that the amount be added to their proposed budget to pay the suppliers.
Why the government has to bear the burden of a private enterprise is beyond us. Cayetano should be made accountable for the anomalies that happened under his watch.
He might as well start making a wreath to lay on the grave of his presidential ambitions this coming All Souls Day!
RAMON MAYUGA
ramon.mayuga49@gmail.com