By Nick Giongco

With Manila as main hub, 2019 Southeast Asian Games chief of mission Monsour del Rosario identified four other venues of the biennial sportsfest: Bulacan, Zambales, Clark and Subic.

“These are the four other cities and I am also considering naming four different deputy CDMs for each city,” said Del Rosario, a champion taekwondo practitioner during his heyday.

Already officially named by Del Rosario to lend a helping hand are karate’s Raymond Lee and squash’s Robert Bachmann.

Del Rosario is also looking at Ada Milby of rugby and Jonne Go of canoe-kayak as two other deputies.

The final roster of sports to be played will be known this November, or one year before the 2019 SEAG.

The country is aiming to bounce back from a string of debacles stretching back to 2007 and Del Rosario insists that the immediate concern is to break into the top three.

“Top three is the target but I want to become No. 1,” he said, noting how the Philippines’ performance has stagnated through the years.

The one and only time the Philippines finished first was in 2005 when it the host country. After that, the performance dropped dramatically.

Still, Del Rosario swears that there have been major changes in the level of competition since 2005 and achieving the ultimate goal of winning the overall crown will be tough.

“Things have changed (a lot) from 2005 until 2019. There are lots of things that are different. You can see the difference. We can see how the world has changed.”