THE 2016 Olympic Games opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro was an unmatched spectacle of singing, dancing and a riot of color so typical of the effervescent spirit and the beauty of the Brazilians.
There were moments of unabashed happiness among the huge throng that crowded into the sprawling Maracana stadium to savor the very best that Brazil had to offer in a truly historic event that captured the heart and soul of a nation and sent a timely message to the rest of the world that we need to take care of the environment in an amazingly relevant display.
The four-hour extravaganza kept us glued to our television sets as TV 5 carried the coverage to all corners of our country through the magic of Cignal TV, which enables Filipinos in the most remote areas of our nation to catch what must surely rank as the finest opening ceremony in the history of the Games.
Filipinos indeed must be grateful to TV 5 and esteemed businessman-sportsman Manny Pangilinan for his commitment to sports and his realization that by bringing such truly world-class events into our living rooms at a remarkable cost, he also reached into our hearts and indeed gave us a glimpse of what a nation and people could achieve even in the midst of economic hardships and problems of peace and order.
In a sense, we as a nation and people under President Rody Duterte, who is a prime agent of change, can learn from what we witnessed and drive us to greater heights of achievement if we work together to right the wrongs in our society and embark on a future enshrined in hope and a willingness to work hard and to work together to move at the very least to the fringes of greatness.
All this will require sacrifices from each and every Filipino and we can and we must draw inspiration from the example of Brazil.
When the Philippines hosts the much smaller-level Southeast Asian Games in Davao City, home of President Duterte in 2019 , we should be able to learn from the fantastic display by Brazil.
We don’t need to approximate the splendor of the fantastic opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, but we can introduce our own creative genius to make the 2019 SEA Games one that is truly leaves a touch of our own and one that would be worth remembering.
While congratulating TV 5 and Cignal TV for its commitment to sports and entertainment of the highest order, we’d also like to commend the TV 5 contingent in Rio and wish to single out Patricia Bermudez Hizon for an excellent job of anchoring the coverage obviously using a script that was succinct, had the essential elements viewers wanted to know and refrained from mushy, emotional hang-ups.
While we pay tribute to our Brazilian friends and commend TV 5 for its efforts, we look forward to the next few days in which we, hopefully, can earn a couple of medals that will add to the pride and joy of a nation and people yearning for an elusive gold medal or one of an even lesser hue.