Despite plagued with controversies and inconvenience during the pre-arrival of the delegates. The 30th SEA (Southeast Asia) Games or officially known as the Philippines 2019 - biennial sporting events of the region has officially opened with a bang.
As per Singapores' The Strait Times, it only takes 2 hours to erase the prior controversies thanks to its extravagant and festive opening ceremony.
This year's hosting was supposed to go to Brunei Darussalam originally but due to budget constraints, they beg off and instead awarded to The Philippines but not without a problem too. When everything is going smoothly, the Marawi war has erupted that totally crippled the city. President Duterte decided to back-out from hosting and will use the budget for the war victims and rehabilitation instead.
But a last-minute decision was made with still 18 months prior to the biennial meet, President Duterte gave a green light and decided to push through with the hosting.
And despite some inconvenience and last-hour finishing touches on the venues and logistics. The game officially opened on November 30 and everyone has only good things to say after the Opening Ceremony. In fact, the Asian Olympic Committee lauded that they encourage the Philippines to bid for the 2030 Asian Games hosting. Not only that the Sports Industry Awards Asia recognized the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee's effort in putting a "world-class" opening ceremony and a record 56 sports in a biennial meeting.
Here's the full Opening Ceremony. So what can you say?