Duterte sees negligence behind SEA Games preps

There was negligence in the preparations for the 30th Southeast Asian Games which the Philippines is currently hosting, President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday.

Airport transfers and accommodations inconvenienced some football teams who arrived in the Philippines from various countries in Southeast Asia.

“I am not attributing it to anybody. But you know, it’s a huge fund, there ought not to have problems even in logistics and things because you can do it not really with precision but had you made most of the money then you could have avoided the critical situations, the mishaps na sinasabi nila,” Duterte said in an interview on GMA’s morning show “Unang Hirit.”

“It is not good preparations ... You do not wait for the bus companies to send their buses to help you out. You had so many years to prepare for it. So how come na ganyan ang nangyari even in the food and in the billeting of the hotel?” he added.

“If you’d ponder on it, it’s actually negligence or unforeseen events that you failed to prepare [for].”

The Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC) also drew flak due to complaints about repeat menus of athletes’ meals, and an unfinished press area in one of the sports venues.

The President, however, said that it is not the right time yet to talk about the issue because the biennial sports meet is ongoing.

Duterte has vowed to investigate what happened even if PHISGOC chairman and House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano was not involved in corruption. —Dona Magsino/VDS, GMA News