(Eagle News) — “Proud to be Filipino!”
This was one of the tweets of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque when he attended the 30th Southeast Asian Games opening at the 55,000 seater Philippine Arena.
“Go Philippines!” he said in another tweet in support of the Filipino athletes competing in the biggest SEA Games in history.
“It was hair-rising to see our athletes march onstage promising a great finish in these games knowing that they have had to deal with lack of funding and terrible facilities to prepare for it,” Roque said in his commentary published in the Daily Tribune on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
He also took a swipe at the detractors of the Philippines’ hosting of the 2019 SEA Games.
“The biggest losers in the opening ceremonies of the Southeast Asian Games were the yellows. At every step of the way, they wanted our sponsorship of the games to fail. The target was not really House Speaker Allan Cayetano. He was collateral damage. The target was President Duterte. Surely, the yellows thought that if the Games were to fail, it is PRRD himself who will take the flak. After all, it was he who decided that we should sponsor the 30th Southeast Asian games,” he said in his commentary titled, “Yellow Losers.”
But Roque noted that these critics “lost miserably” despite earlier fake news that grabbed media headlines.
He said that the opening ceremonies were such a huge success that it could even rival opening ceremonies of the Olympics.
“It proved that once we Filipinos put our heart in any undertaking, we can excel. In fact, the opening ceremonies were not only world-class; it could rival any opening ceremonies even in the history of the Olympics,” he said.
-Surge of nationalism-
“But the real reason why the opening was a huge success was us, the Filipinos who were in the jam-packed Philippine Arena, and those who were glued to the ceremonies on their television sets. To those of us who had the good fortune of being physically present in the arena, it was a surge of nationalism shared with the hundreds of thousands who witnessed the event. It was a moment to be truly proud to be a Filipino. And it was not just because of the spectacular show. It was a sense of being one with a nation which, despite natural calamities, political bickering and a host of other challenges, could stand up heads high up proud that we can be the very best at whatever it is that we want to succeed in,” Roque wrote in his published commentary.