Can the Philippines Survive Without Sports?

If there's one thing that we can be certain of in these uncertain times, it's that sports in the Philippines will never be the same thanks to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic that hit more than 10,000 individuals in the country alone. And as long as there's no vaccine against the virus in sight, there's a chance that fans won't be able to attend live games not just for the rest of 2020 but possibly, until 2021 and beyond. 

We will. We can. We must.Now the question is: Can the Philippines survive without sports?

Even Ven Ponce, a front-liner with the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) as well as an athlete herself, admitted that even with the holding of games behind-closed-doors, she pointed out that given that COVID-19 can primarily be transmitted via droplets from one infected human to the other, players will always be at risk and surely, sports officials know that very well that it's making them considering all sports entirely. And if we look at things from a financial side,  there will be losses and that's inevitable. 

If all sports events in the country are outright canceled for the remainder of the year, the country will still survive as it will allow more funds to be focused on helping in the battle against COVID-19. It may be a big blow financially but if Willie Marcial and other heads of the sports leagues in the country aren't even counting the possibility of canceling their seasons, they, too, are fully aware that as long as no vaccine is made,  holding games at a time like these seems questionable.  

One may say that holding behind-closed-doors games will be the new normal and that's already given with suggestions on how to proceed with holding behind-closed-doors games are coming in left and right but the thing is, the risk is always there. 

Yes, the Filipino fans will be hurt by the absence of sports in the country for a foreseeable long period of time so is the tons of workers who won't be able to work but at the very least, the government is prioritizing the safety and health of everyone over anything else. The government's response to the pandemic may not please some but as a Filipino, it's also our responsibility to make sure that this country will survive even without sports. And we can do that by simply following rules and regulations set by the IATF. After all, we're all in this together. We're battling one common enemy.

Photo is from SAGISAG PH