- Jake Ejercito asked if there were other nominees for “Best SEA Games Organizer” award which was claimed by Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISCOG)
- PHISGOC chief Alan Peter Cayetano earlier defended the award given to the country for organizing the SEA Games
- Writer Eric Cabahug said that “there was no ‘Best SEA Games’ award” given by Sports Industry Awards Asia (SPIA)
Joseph Estrada’s son Jake Ejercito recently shared his thoughts on Twitter which provoked some debates online.
Jake questioned a news report which said House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano received an award recognizing the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISCOG) as the “Best SEA Games Organizer”.
Jake then asked if there were other groups who were even nominated for the said award which the PHISCOG supposedly bagged from the Sports Industry Awards Asia (SPIA).
“Quite perplexed with this headline. Who else was in the running for ‘Best SEA Games Organizer?’ Or is PHISGOC the best ever?” Jake captioned his post.
Quite perplexed with this headline. Who else was in the running for “Best SEA Games Organizer?” Or is PHISCOG the best ever? https://t.co/KkIk92Opjb
— jake ejercito (@unoemilio) December 5, 2019
Along with this, news circulated online that said there was no such ‘Best SEA Games Organizer’ award given to PHISGOC. But Alan Peter Cayetano, chairman of PHISGOC, contradicted this news.
He told reporters in an interview, “Ako mismo nagulat ako, dito sa award na ito.
“Nakakalungkot lang na maraming fake news na umiikot na sinasabing hindi totoo yung award, o kaya gobyerno daw ng Pilipinas ang SPIA, or inisponsoran namin.
“These are all not true,” the PHISGOC chief said.
He also explained why the Best SEA Games Organizer award was already given to the country while the 2019 Southeast Asian Games will still be running until December 11.
“Nakakalimutan kasi nung mga nagtutuligsa, or mga nagpe-fake news, our hosting started the day that I accepted the (SEA Games) flag in Malaysia. So marami pong event na wala sa media, from hosting the technical officials, from bringing in the SEA Games federation, mga conference the last year and a half na naganap, kasama lahat yan sa hosting,” he explained.
It was later discovered that the official news agency of the government, Philippine News Agency (PNA) first published an article titled, “Asia award body hails Phisgoc as ‘best SEAG organizer.’” The post, which became the basis of other news agencies in spreading the news, has already been taken down.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, December 4, award-winning screenwriter Eric Cabahug, lambasted the same report from FOX Sports calling it “misleading.” He stressed that “there was no ‘Best SEA Games’ award,” and debunked claims that PHISGOC was hailed “as ‘Best SEA Games Organizer.’”
“The award that was given to Alan Peter Cayetano was a citation for his individual contribution to sports (apparently based solely on his involvement as chairman of the organizing committee for the 2019 SEAG). The ‘Best SEAG’ statement was merely a remark made by the SPIA chairman as he handed the trophy to Cayetano,” Cabahug explained.
Eric added that the awarding ceremonies of SPIA is part of the activities organized by SEA Games, and he commented that it was “probably even sponsored by Phisgoc.”
In the same post, Eric attached a link that showed the official awards given by SPIA.There was no “Best SEA Games Organizer” award mentioned on the list.
