INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines - Olympic chief Jose ``Peping'' Cojuangco Jr. will not go quietly into the night without a fight.

In peril of being driven out of office in equestrian, Cojuangco has asked the Federation Equestre Internationale to clarify its position and send a representative to conduct a thorough investigation on the matter.

The FEI, the world governing body in the sport, has confirmed the election of party-list representative Carisa Coscolluela as the new president of the Equestrian Association of the Philippines in a letter it sent on May 28.

Coscolluela's group held its election on April 23 with Coscolluela succeeding Cojuangco as equestrian chief.

Cojuangco, however, branded the election as illegal and refused to recognize Coscolluela during last week's Philippine Olympic Committee general assembly.

``Your email (dated May 29, 2009) did not state the rationale or basis of your decision,'' said Cojuangco in a letter he sent Monday to FEI chief executive and secretary general Alexander McClin.

``It merely mentioned that it was `based on a thorough analysis of documents presented by both parties','' added the POC president.

McLin upheld the election of Coscolluela ?on the basis of the written submissions of both parties and the evidence produced.?

Cojuangco has also asked McLin to provide a detailed account on how the FEI arrived at the decision to grant Coscolluela's recognition.

``As we are seeking clarification of your decision, we want to know your specific findings of fact and law, and the documents or evidences you relied upon in support thereof,'' said Cojuangco to McLin.

``We therefore, urgently move to be informed of the particular factual and legal basis of the decision to enable us to intelligently prepare our position paper on the matter,'' added Cojuangco, who served as equestrian chief since 2001 and was elected to lead the Olympic body in 2004.

The POC constitution allows Cojuangco to stay on as POC head since he was elected to a second term last November, when he was still the equestrian president.

It was under the same condition that Rene Cruz of badminton remained as POC president late in the 1990s, even though former first lady Ming Ramos was already the new head then.

In closing, Cojuangco told McLin: ``Because of the seriousness of the matter, we reiterate our request for you to send a representative to Manila with the sense of urgency to conduct a thorough investigation and to fully appreciate the prevailing situation.

``We are surprised to receive that letter from the secretary-general of the FEI. We strongly feel that our position has been exhaustively clarified,'' said POC spokesperson Joey Romasanta.

``Also, we need to verify from FEI if they were able to receive all our official communications to them as they have not acknowledged receiving our letters. We are certain that in the end, the truth will prevail,'' added Romasanta.