Southeast Asian Games 2019 organsiers have signed sponsorship deals with seven firms, including Philippine Airlines ©Philippine Airlines

Philippine officials of the this year's Southeast Asian Games (SEA) in Manilla have signed sponsorship agreements with seven different firms.

The Memorandum of Agreements (MoA) signed with groups including Philippine Airlines, Asics and Media-Pro Asia, are the first to be formally completed.

They were signed by the Manila 2019 chairman Allan Peter Cayetano and come just as the Philippines Government refused to approve the full requested budget for the Games, scheduled to take place between November 30 and December 11 and feature 11 countries. 

"We are very thankful for the first set of sponsors who took the leap of faith and who I know, wants to do much good in our society, Philippine sports and Southeast Asian sports," Cayetano told the Philippine News Agency.

"And hopefully, we will do justice to the value that the SEA Games will give to your companies."

The news comes just as the Philippine senate approved a budget for the Games of PHP5 billion (£111 million/$143 million/€127 million), PHP2.5 billion (£37 million/$48 million/€42 million) less than the Organising Committee had requested.

The smaller figure has reportedly forced the organisers to seek more sponsors to make up the difference.

The seven sponsors signed by 2019 Southeast Asian Games organisers in the Philippines will help make up some of the difference in funding after the Government failed to provide everything they had asked for ©Atos
The seven sponsors signed by 2019 Southeast Asian Games organisers in the Philippines will help make up some of the difference in funding after the Government failed to provide everything they had asked for ©Atos

The value of these seven deals has not been reported.

"More than just investing in this year’s SEA Games, you are investing in our country, our people and the development of our athletes,"Philippines Sports Commission chairman William Ramirez said.

Jose Buatista, the President of Philippine Airlines, claimed it is "a privilege" to be named as the official airline for an event, "that promotes sportsmanship, teamwork and unity, and brings honour and glory to the Philippines" as the host.

The other firms to have been named as sponsors are Atos, GL Events, Grand Sport and the Sonak Corporation.

Atos, a digital solutions company based in Spain, will handle the SEA Games management system while the French firm GL Events, an integrated solutions and services firm for past international sporting events, will lead in doing overlays of 39 venues set to stage 56 sports. 

Thailand’s Grand Sport will provide the uniforms for the workforce, volunteers and technical officials while Sonak Corporation is the exclusive distributor of Asics, official outfitter of the Philippine delegation, and official ball and sporting equipment Mikasa, Marathon and Molten.

Media-Pro Asia, another company based in Spain, is the host broadcast production partner and official media rights and sponsorship partner.