Scandals of The 2005 Southeast Asian Games - Programming

Programming

• As with previous games, the Filipino hosts introduced non-Olympic events or sports normally not contested in previous games into the program which are often advantageous to the home country, including Arnis, Baseball, Dancesport, Lawn Bowls and Softball. As expected, the hosts dominated these events.
• Three Vietnamese Pencak Silat competitors, Nguyen Thi Thu Hong, Nguyen Van Hung and Nguyen Thi Phuong Thuy had their schedules changed at the last minute and without due notification to the athletes involved. Nguyen Thi Thu Hong, for instance, discovered the change only by chance, and would have forfeited the game if she did not turn up during the rescheduled time. All three of them later won gold medals.
  • A day later, another Vietnamese Pencak Silat athlete was disadvantaged by the same 'sudden re-scheduling'. Le Anh Tuan was in his lunch break to prepare for his match in the afternoon when he heard his name called to turn up for the match against a Filipino athlete. Le Anh Tuan had to fight taking the risk of injury as a result of not doing enough warming-up. He later won the match.
• At the opening ceremonies in Cebu City, organizers were impressed over the sell-out crowd of 20,000 spectators. However, city officials were furious over how this was achieved after they discovered that the planning committee for the Cebu opening ceremonies heavily slashed ticket prices from 100 pesos to 20 pesos. Even at P20 per ticket, discounts were given further. Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña said that he was disappointed that the sell-out crowd was achieved by selling tickets with "dirt cheapness", and was also furious over the organizers' overspending for the event.
  • In relation to these developments, Cebu City Sports Commission chairman Jonathan Guardo was fired. Ironically, Guardo was about to resign from his post just as he learned that he was being fired. Immediately after the games closed, it was revealed that the city's sports body had debts of over seven million pesos with hotels, caterers and other private groups that took part in Cebu's hosting of the SEA Games. Cheque payments issued by the CCSC bounced.
    • On January 7, 2006, Jonathan Guardo, the former CCSC and Cebu SOC chairman, announced that he was running for congress in the upcoming 2007 general elections representing the southern district of Cebu. Guardo stated that politics was the reason why Mayor Osmena fired and lashed him publicly. The mayor on the other hand continues to demand Guardo to be transparent with the full accounting of Cebu's SEA Games hosting, which has not been completed until now.