INQUIRER Sports

ERRATUM: It was reported in this column on Thursday that ?youthful sports godfather Mikee Romero made a great heroic act when he refused a vital post in the national sports hierarchy.? That was incorrect. Romero has accepted the presidency of the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines (PhilCycling).

?Romero on Wednesday agreed to assume the leadership of PhilCycling,? the Inquirer?s Cedelf Tupas wrote Friday.

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DETAILS: Shortly after he returned from the United States earlier this month, Romero was asked if he would take the offer from Philippine Olympic Committee officials, led by the sly Go Teng Kok, to work as president of the national cycling association.

?Tito, I?m not inclined to accept that offer,? Romero told me on the phone. ?I believe Rolando Hiso, who was elected PhilCycling president (on May 9) will be in a best position to serve.?

Much later, Romero sent the following text message to my son, Chino, the commissioner of the Philippine Basketball League: ?Com, I asked for the national team in cycling to meet me tomorrow. I want to get a pulse on the riders. I am still not inclined to accept the presidency although the POC is pressuring me to do so. I?m willing to be the godfather of the 2009 SEA Games national team though.?

Anyway, after pledging a P5-Million fund for cycling, Romero on Thursday also accepted the presidency.

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COMMENT: It must be an impostor, not the heroic Romero, who earlier told me that he was recognizing Hiso?s official election as PhilCycling president.

But if it was indeed Romero who talked to me on the phone earlier, then he was either pulling my leg or was just trying to be cute.

As previously noted here, Romero?s ?stoic hesitation after he was offered the PhilCycling presidency was a heroic fade-away??

That, too, was incorrect.

Romero did try to make his reluctant acceptance of the cycling presidency appear like a noble act.

But not too many people were willing to buy his excuse.

Romero has conveniently forgotten that the ouster of the legally elected Hiso was both foul and illegal.

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CONCLUDING COMMENT: Until today, there has been no single explanation why the POC nullified the May 9 election it had called and supervised.

The May 17 board vote was not only illegal.

Hiso had also been ousted without cause.

Unfortunately, Romero has overlooked the fact that the Mafia at the POC used his acceptance to sanitize their stinking act.

So, should Romero be pitied or scorned?

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CONCLUDING QUOTES: Incredible, too bad to be true, said one avid sports fan.

Added another keen-eyed sideliner: ?Romero said pressure from desperados at POC and the appeal by coaches and cyclists forced him to accept the presidency; but everybody knows that was all part of a drama scripted by a faggot at the POC.?

Added Jesus Garcia Jr., two-time national Tour champion: ?It was clear Mikee just tried to play it coy?kunwari ayaw?when he refused the presidency, so he would look noble and nice. But deep in his heart, he was lusting for the position. It was all a palabas, vodavil.?

Hiso, for his part, has decided to shift his fight and vowed to campaign for the restoration of decency in the POC. He said he will do his honest best to work for reforms and expose all those who have been destroying the Olympic ideals and wrecking Philippine sports through their Mafiosi gangster tactics.