The torch tower built by the for the SEA Games 2019 is 50 meters high, located at Clark Stadium - the main stadium of this year’s Southeast Asian Games. The project has a construction cost of more than 50 million pesos (about 984,000 USD ).

High funding has led many critics to claim that the money could be used more effectively for programs for children and helping the poor, according to  AFP .

"Do people realize that with a budget of 1 million pesos per classroom, we were able to build up to 50 classrooms for children? In other words, we exchanged 50 classrooms for a cooking pot. food, "Congressman Fraklin Drilon said.

President Duterte sought to appease public opinion, claiming that high construction costs were not due to corruption. The Philippine leader said the torch tower was "a product of the mind" and "cannot measure the costs because the work is an attempt to interpret the minds of the creators".

"This is a work of art. We watch the athletes. We see the burning fire symbolizing hope and the spirit of competition. We think the construction is perfectly suited," Truong said. The organizer of the SEA Games 2019, Alan Peter Cayetano, also countered.

Meanwhile, Senator Joey Salceda, the ally of President , said that the project, despite its reasonable cost, still created the image of wasteful government, reminiscent of the time of dictator Ferdinand Marcos. and Lady Imelda.

After the coup in 1986, people discovered that Imelda owned a collection of thousands of pairs of shoes.

The mark of the Marcos family also appeared in a rare project for the controversial SEA Games.

The designer of the torch tower was engineer Francisco "Bobby" Manoso. He was once favored by Mrs. Imelda for designing the "Coconut Palace".

The villa was built in Manila, using indigenous materials and planned for the government to welcome international guests. However, the last work is only remembered as one of the evidence for the profligate spending habits of the Marcos family.