The fall from one to six

Down, down. As of late yesterday's count, the Philippine contingent was back again to Number Six in the ranking of the ten participating countries in the ongoing Southeast Asian Games in Thailand . That the host country would end up as the champions had been a given, but NUMBER 6 for the Philippines , the defending champions? Oh woe! What happened to our much-touted fighting spirit?

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The Philippines sank to Number 6 with only one gold medal more going to Singapore , who dislodged us. One wonders if that could have happened if our team did not, as the Daily Inquirer described it, go “throwing sportsmanship out of the window”, with the walk-out of six of our boxers. Remember, this is the event where RP had been leading, and this is also where we copped out. That is why I still think that it was a very bad decision to stomp out in a huff at that very point of the Games.

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Since our officials were already complaining, perhaps the games officials, if they had really been cheating on us, would have been more careful in their calls and judgment. And, if they had, surely, at least two or three of our boxers could have snatched gold medals, too – and made all the difference. Maybe we would at least be Number Four, which would be bad, but not Number Six, which is the worst. The fall-out from that walkout, in terms of international perception of our maturity as sports participants, is unimaginable.

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But what really happened to the a-go-go group that had the spirit and capability to grab the championship only a year ago? Did our athletes, or their training, deteriorate that much? Some suspect that not much attention was given to the training, or, at least, the concentration, effort and funding that went into the 2006 meet was no longer there this time. Which seems difficult to understand, because then, we were the hosts, and as such, had to take on so many other concerns while preparing for it. Now that our sole problem was only the preparation of our contingent, we have to be content with Number Six. And there is only one more day left. Alas and alack. The 2006 gold harvest was only a flash in the pan.

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Meanwhile, the Makati Regional Trial Court dropped the charges against all the civilians supposed to have aided and abetted the putchists led by Senator Antonio Trillanes and General Danilo Lim. That should relieve the families and friends of those civilians, but I have the feeling that some of them are disappointed at not having been given their day in court. These are the ones who, from their words and actions, seem to be “asking for it”, that is, to be persecuted, and maybe even thrown into jail, and be martyrs.

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As for Trillanes and Lim, they, too, were asking for it, knowing that the administration, especially the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces would go to all extremes to stop them. Indeed, if the media had not been at the Peninsula Hotel at that crucial hour, it is very likely that we would have been reading obituaries for a lot of people after November 29. By the way, those who were cleared by the court have indicated that they are not through yet, that they are filing charges against the police and whoever gave the orders to round them up like criminals, manacle them, and haul them to Bicutan for interrogation. We will soon be seeing a lot of legal action from those of our colleagues in media who want to see to it that these indignities do not happen to those in our profession ever again.

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Meanwhile, it was shocking to see from the column of Boo Chanco that it had to take three (!) buses to carry what he called the “hangers-on” of President Arroyo when she went to Spain . It must have been a shock, or a comical matter to the Spaniards, too. But their businessmen must have been mollified because the officials on the party went into vigorous shopping sprees and almost overloaded the plane going home. That is probably also the reason why the United Kingdom officials made sure that only President Arroyo and her husband could get inside the Palace to see the Queen. Imagine three busloads of junketeers swarming all over Buckingham, with some of them probably daring enough, or shameless enough, to pose with her or to ask for her autograph!*

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