GUANGZHOU—A government guarantee would assure the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) of a successful hosting of the 2013 Asian Beach Games (ABG) which was awarded to the country early this week by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). “A feasibility study on the 2013 ABG would be done immediately when we return to Manila,” said Joey Romasanta, the Philippine chief of mission to Guangzhou 2010 and spokesman of the POC.
The study, Romasanta added, would then be forwarded to Malacañang for President Aquino to study.
Romasanta said there is no reason to fear that the Philippines may not have the funds to host the ABG.
“We were able to host the 2005 Southeast Asian Games even though we did not have that much money,” he said, “so we can do the same with the Beach Games.”
The country spent at least P1 billion for the 2005 SEA Games. For the ABG, the BusinessMirror learned it would need at least $60 million, or P250 million, for operations alone.
But Romasanta said the ABG would not be as costly as the SEA Games because there is no need to build new facilities. “There are no infrastructure for the Beach Games and besides, there are less participants as compared with the SEA Games,” he said.
The SEA Games normally attracts close to 10,000 athletes and officials from the 11 member-countries. For the Beach Games, although all 45 members of the OCA send their athletes, the attendance is around 2,500 athletes and officials.
“If the Beach Games are professionally organized, then I don’t believe we will have any problems hosting them,” he added.
Romasanta said they have erased Boracay from the short list of candidate venues because he said it would be expensive to bring the event there.
Topping the list are Cebu and Bohol. Palawan is also out of the list because of possible problems in logistics.
The first ABG were held two years ago in Bali, Indonesia. The second edition is set December 4 to 16 in Oman. Thailand was supposed to host the third edition in 2004 in Phuket, but OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah heeded the POC’s request for hosting the event in 2013 even if it was to disrupt the biennial frequency of the event.
The OCA has 19 sports on the ABG program but the host nation may reduce it. Oman is hosting 17.
Jun Lomibao, Business Mirror
