Jason Balabal expresses joy after winning the gold medal in the final of the men’s wrestling 84kg competition in the Southeast Asian Games Thursday night. (Photo by ALBERT GARCIA)

VIENTIANE, Laos — Despite the squabbles at home and the scrapping of events where it is considered strong, the Philippines managed to improve to fifth place in the just-ended 25th Southeast Asian Games.

The Filipinos, boosted by 26 gold medals won in the last five days, totalled 38 golds, 35 silvers and 50 bronzes to exceed bleak expectations at home.

The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) failed to iron out their differences over the size and composition of the delegation with the PSC sticking to the rigid guidelines that were previously agreed upon with chief of mission Mario Tanchangco.

The POC funded the 98 additional athletes who took one of two chartered planes that ferried the delegation to the Laotian capital.

PSC chairman Harry Angping and his commissioners stayed at home when POC officials declined to issue them accreditation.

The division, however, did not affect the morale of the athletes who nearly pulled off a top three finish for the Philippines.

With a few events left unsettled Friday, the Filipinos are safely entrenched in fifth place, just two golds behind fourth-running Malaysia.

Thailand managed to hold off Vietnam for the overall title with 85 golds, just four behind its main rival.

Indonesia took third spot with 43 golds.

Rounding out the standings: Indonesia sixth, 33; Laos seventh, 32; Myanmar eighth, 10; Cambodia ninth, 3; Brunei 10th, 1; and Timor Leste 11th with only three bronzes.

Athletics was the biggest contributor with seven golds, three silvers and four bronzes, an improvement from the 5-7-9 medal tally in 2007.

The gold medalists were Rene Herrera, 3,000-meter steeplechase (men); Arniel Ferrera, hammer throw (men); Rosie Villarito, javelin throw (women); Danilo Fresnido, javelin throw (men); Marestella Torres, long jump (women); Jho-An Banayag, marathon (women) and Eduado Buenavista, marathon (men).

Boxing bounced back from a dismal one-gold showing the last time around by collecting five golds, one silver and three bronzes. Three of the golds were won by women boxers, signifying the giant stride made by the distaff side in the sport.

Annie Albania defended her flyweight crown to lead the winners. The others are Bill Vicera, pinweight (men); Josie Gabuco, pinweight (women); Alice Aparri, light flyweight (women); Annie Albania, flyweight (women); and Charly Suarez, featherweight (men).

Taekwondo also improved from one gold to four, courtesy of Tshomlee Go, featherweight (men); Alexander Briones, heavyweight (men); Rani Ann Ortega, Camille Alarilla, Janice Lagman, poomsae team (women); and Mary Antoinette Rivero, welterweight (women).

The RP jins also came home with four silvers and four bronzes.

Swimming’s performance dipped from eight to four golds this week.

Miguel Molina defended his 200 and 400-meter individual medley titles, Ryan Arabejo dominated the 1,500-meter freestyle and Daniel Coakley crushed the field in the 50-meter freestyle to account for the four gold medals.

The swimmers also bagged six silvers and a bronze.

Wrestling was a big surprise with three golds, two silvers and three bronzes.

Brothers Jimmy and Margarito Angana and Jason Balabal accounted for the three victories.

Despite a double blackeye in the men’s 9-ball pool events, billiards collected three golds, one silver and two bronzes.

Rubilen Amit swept the 9-ball and 8-ball singles events while Ronnie Alcano defended his men’s 8-ball title.

Wushu, Judo, golf and tennis added two golds apiece while muay, karate, archery and shooting accounted for one gold each.

The Filipinos failed to win a gold in diving, weightlifting, pencak silat, water polo, sepak takraw, table tennis and petanque.