The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) lauded Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence
“Bong” Go and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano for their assistance in changing the mind of the country’s governing basketball bodies to send a team to the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia.
The POC admitted that Go and Cayetano worked with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) and the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in trying to reach a last-minute solution to the issue.
The SBP previously announced that it would not send a team to the 2018 Asian Games.
“We’ve been working with two wonderful gentlemen in government — Alan Peter Cayetano, secretary of Foreign Affairs, who is also head of the (2019) Southeast Asian Games, and SAP Bong Go,” POC president Ricky Vargas said.
League commissioner Willie Marcial said he had a meeting with Go.
“He came to see me, and I told him of the situation. Everything fell into place after that,” Marcial said in Filipino.
The move came just a day after the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) headed by chairman William “Butch” Ramirez, said it would try to convince the SBP to reconsider its decision not to send a basketball team to the Asian Games.
Go had said it would be a letdown if no Philippine basketball team will compete in Indonesia.
“It would be a disappointment if the Philippines would not have a representative to the Asian games, especially that basketball is in the heart of every Filipino,” he said. “It is not important whether we win or lose, so long as we show the world we fought and we did not easily surrender in any challenge.”