Foreign Affairs secretary Alan Peter Cayetano assured the public yesterday that funds earmarked for the country’s hosting of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games “will be spent wisely.”
“We will not spend not a peso more that is needed,” said Cayetano during a press conference at the Marriot Hotel-Manila that was also graced by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC).
“We will be transparent,” said Cayetano.
The PSC and POC will work with Cayetano in staging the biennial sportsfest being eyed for the month of November and December, according to POC president Jose ‘Peping’ Cojuangco.
Cayetano has also been appointed as chief of the organizing committee of the 2019 SEAG as he played a pivotal role in Malacanang’s stand to reconsider its earlier decision not to pursue the hosting owing to security concerns.
Cayetano swears that the hosting would only give a positive image of the Philippines overseas in line with the government’s vision of unveiling “a new Philippines in two years.”
Ramirez, who earlier announced that Malacanang will not bankroll the country’s hosting of the biennial meet, vowed the 2019 hosting “will not go to waste.”
“We will work to succeed and not to fail,” added Ramirez, who along with Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Senator Miguel Zubiri made the recommendation to President Duterte not to push with the SEAG hosting as funds for the event will be used for the rehabilitation of Mindanao, especially Marawi.
