BY TITO S. TALAO
BOCAUE, Bulacan — In an opening ceremony like no other – awash in ever-changing shades of color and dark, dazzled with pomp and pageantry that fused together cultural heritage, Hollywood production and blistering rap, and held 50,000 people in rapt and suspense which reached its explosive climax when boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, peeling off a white hood to reveal his face and sprinting a few steps, set ablaze a 50-meter cauldron 87 kilometers away – the curtains to the 30th Southeast Asian Games were raised last night by one of the most powerful man in the region standing beside one of the wealthiest man in the world.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who later clapped and swayed to the popular ‘70s Hotdog hit song ‘Manila,’ stood up from his sky lounge seat high up the Philippine Arena, alongside Brunei’s Sultan and Prime Minister Hassanal Bolkiah, and declared the biennial sports meet open as the capacity crowd roared, thousands of them turning on their cell phone flashlights to create a star-filled phenomenon inside the cavernous venue.
“We’re celebrating the Games of Southeast Asia. Mabuhay tayong lahat!” Duterte said as ‘fireworks’ went off at the catwalk above.
Two high-ranking officials involved in the SEA Games hosting were not as economical with their words.
Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee chairman and House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano spoke about putting action into the faith of those who believed in the country’s bid to host the meet.
“We gather as children of God seeking to build a better world,” he said.
Cayetano also paid tribute to the Filipino athletes in attendance.
“We look at them and we see strength and wisdom, our own future,” he said. “We see passion, sacrifice, discipline and respect.”
He then delivered the country’s battle cry in its bid to reclaim regional supremacy.
“We build us one, we work as one, we win as one,” he said.
Abraham ‘Bambol’ Tolentino, president of the Philippine Olympic Committee, followed with a more emotional and personal message.
Addressing everybody involved in organizing the highly-secret inaugural ceremony, done indoors for the first time, Tolentino said: “You’re now part of history. It was daunting and challenging but you have made our country proud. Now, more than ever, I’m so proud to be a Filipino.”
He added: “This is a defining moment for us Filipinos.”
The spacious, snow-resembling stage served as the traditional track oval which welcomed the amazing show’s highlight — the parade of participating countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia followed by Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar, each delegation following by a pagoda-inspired woodwork under which Filipina beauties walked as spectators applauded.
It was after the Myanmar contingent that the decibel of applause rose to deafening level as the crowd anticipated an alphabetical order of entrance which would place the Philippines next.
Instead, Singapore came out next, then Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam and finally the host athletes, with a big Philippine flag held up by Margie Didal, Kyomi Watanabe, Meggie Ochoa, Eumir Felix Marcial and EJ Obiena leading the way again to the beat of song ‘Manila.’
It was here that Duterte found it irresistible to swing to the rhythm of the music, a giant video monitor catching his moves as the crowd rumbled.
Conspicuously absent from the mammoth Philippine delegation were members of Gilas Pilipinas, who reports said skipped the opening ceremony to practice. Their non-appearance was hardly noticed, judging from the wild reaction.
A heart-tugging moment came when legends of Philippines sports — Lydia de Vega-Mercado, Akiko Thomson-Guevarra, Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes, Paeng Nepomuceno, Eric Buhain, Bong Coo and Alvin Patromonio walked in bearing the Southeast Asian Games Federation Flag, the sight of the heroes and heroines from a bygone era bringing back fond memories of their unparalleled feats.
And, of course, there were the song numbers, reaching feverish heights when the Black Eyed Peas’ Apl.De.Ap leaped onto the stage and brought the house down, along with the Ryan Cayabyab composition “We Win As One.”
