Cayetano bares SEAG saboteurs’ modus
by Ellson QuismorioHouse Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano described on Friday the lengths that certain individuals have allegedly gone just to sabotage the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEAG), which will officially start on Saturday, November 30.
(AP / Aaron Favila / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
“It’s an operation. If anyone plans an operation, they plan a communications component,” Cayetano, chairman of the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC), told reporters on the sidelines of the Bicameral Conference Committee hearing on the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020.
“Some of my friends in the media approached me. ‘Sir umaagos pera pero hindi namin tinatanggap (a lot of money is being offered but we didn’t accept it) because it’s not about politics, it’s about the country,” he narrated.
Even the athletes themselves were reportedly being wooed to besmirch the staging of the competitions, Cayetano claimed.
“Pati nga sa mga participants ng SEA Games may nagpapahiwatig, ‘we’ll take care of you, pwede mo bang banatan to? (Even the SEA Games participants have been approached and asked, ‘we’ll take care of you, can you attack this)'” added the Speaker.
Cayetano also cited the involvement of “social media operators” based on his personal observations that damaging fake news regarding the SEA Games hosting were being “boosted” in the online space.