Tempo Online
by Nick Giongco
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Ricky Vargas yesterday doesn’t mind hearing the Philippine national anthem get played over and over again when the country hosts the 30th Southeast Asian Games later this year.
“I wanna hear our national anthem played 120 times in the SEA Games,” said Vargas during yesterday’s key meeting with the national sports associations that was arranged by Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William ‘Butch’ Ramirez.
“I share the call of the PSC chairman Ramirez and the PSC and the President (Rodrigo Duterte) to win and unify as one,” Vargas told all leaders of NSAs at the Philippine International Convention Center.
“We are of the same color. We are Team Philippines,” exclaimed Ramirez, who assumed the position of SEAG chief of mission after Vargas took out Monsour del Rosario.
“I’ll be focusing my eyes on the national athletes,” said Ramirez, stressing that Malacañang’s instructions is to look afer the needs of the national athletes who will go for gold in the Nov. 30-Dec. 11 SEAG.
Also gracing the affair was Phisgoc head Alan Peter Cayetano, who believes the staging of the biennial SEAG “will spur the nextgeneration of Filipinos.”
