Philippines hoarding gold at Southeast Asian Games

• AP

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The Philippines added six more gold medals to its burgeoning total at the Southeast Asian Games on yesterday.

The host country, trying to usurp Vietnam, host of the 2003 Games, as top medal winner, moved to 29 golds on the third official day of competition.

Vietnam was 12 behind with 17, followed by Malaysia with 10.

Vicky Ting from the Philippines, left, performs her routine with teammate Aida Yang during the female dulian wushu event at the 23rd Southeast Asian Games in Manila yesterday. The two went on to win the gold medal in the event.

PHOTO: AP

Filipino winners included Arneil Fererra in the hammer throw, Nelson Pacalso in men’s kumite karate, Aida Yang and Vicky Ting in women’s dulian wushu and Baby Marites Sotto Bitbit in women’s cross-country cycling.

Other early gold medal winners yesterday were Wassano Winatho of Thailand in the women’s 400m hurdles, Yuan Yu Fang of Malaysia in the women’s 20km walk, Phi Wai Phyo of Malaysia in men’s gunshu wushu and Nguyen Thi My Duc of Vietnam in women’s qiangshu wushu.

Security remained tight around Games venues yesterday, particularly at the volleyball stadium on Negros Island in central Philippines, where President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited.

On Monday, police questioned a man after a bomb sniffer dog detected an explosives scent in the man’s van. Yesterday, officials said there was no apparent breech of security and the man had been released without charge.

More than 17,000 police and security forces are on high alert during the Games. There have been recent deadly attacks by communist rebels in central and northern Philippines, and al-Qaeda-linked militants also are active in the country.

In downtown Manila, police and security officials, many armed with machine guns and rifles, roam the city, a tightening of already stringent security in place over the past several years.

Meanwhile, the first Filipino gold medalist at the Games — Maristella Torres in the long jump on Sunday — got another bonus yesterday. The Philippine army private, by an order from army Chief Lieutenant-General Hermogenes Esperon Jr, is now a corporal.

She is one of 91 military personnel on the Philippines team in the 11-country competition that ends Dec. 5.