Throughout the history of Southeast Asian Games since 1977, the Philippines had won only once and that was on the year 2005 compared to Indonesia which had won 8 times already and Thailand, 5 times.
The 25th SEA Games was held in Ventianne, Laos from December 7 to December 18 this year. Thailand was the over-all champion with 266 medals: 86 golds, 83 silver, and 97 bronze. Our country placed 5th with 38 gold, 35 silver, and 51 bronze medals, a total of 124. Timor-Leste, on the other hand, placed 10th and last with only 3 bronze medals, no gold or silver medal at all. Timor-Leste is a new member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (2005) community and became a fully independent republic only in 2002.
Every Filipino would wish witnessing our country as the champion. But unfortunately, we only placed 5th. This would only show that we lack many aspects in our sports. Funds are not enough to train the athletes. The Philippine government should fully support our Filipino athletes. Pag nananalo tayo sa isang larangan ng sports, tuwang-tuwa ang mga opisyal ng gobyerno. Mas lalo pa silang matutuwa kung majority ng events ay panalo tayo. Yong pera na pambili ng bala at armas (na ibibigay lang naman pala sa mga rebelde, kuno, haha), eh bawas-bawasan naman. Give it the Philippine Sports Commission, right? And please, MINIMIZE, IF NOT STOP, CORRUPTION!
Second, officials from the government and PSC, and other private individuals who are helping our athletes should stop politicking. It's really a bad practice. I said practice because we always hear those fights and disagreements among those people every time our country is participating in big sport events such as SEA Games. They are setting a bad example to the youth and the athletes.
Well, it's not the end of the world. The next SEA Games well be held in Indonesia on 2011. And I hope that our athletes and sports officials are better prepared that time.
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