INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco may have to seek police help if he hopes to save what little sanity is left in the POC.

Something weird and savage took place on Sunday.

Cojuangco has got to stop a group of sporting mad dogs in their rabid tracks.

These raging canines have done enough damage to local sports.

But last heard of, they were zeroing in on Rolando Hiso, who was elected president of the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines (PhilCycling) in a POC-supervised poll last week.

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They cornered Hiso at the Quezon City Memorial Circle on Sunday, where the new PhilCycling board was having a meeting.

For the record, Hiso won through a board vote, 6-5, over sportsman Mikee Romero.

Romero, who was in the United States, was automatically picked chair of the PhilCycling board.

Unconfirmed reports, however, said Romero would not accept any post lower than president.

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Anyway, while presiding on Sunday, Hiso was told by board member Cesar Filosopo that he was no longer the PhilCycling president.

Filosopo, assisted by Armando Bautista, also a board member, informed Hiso they had made two board men?who were absent during the official PhilCycling election for president?to cast their votes during the informal gathering on Sunday.

Filosopo allegedly claimed the additional votes of the two board members, nowhere in the vicinity during the board selection for president, obliterated Hiso?s official victory as PhilCycling chief.

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Hiso felt both stunned and insulted.

He said Filosopo sounded irked and threatened him if he refused to budge.

Filosopo allegedly told Hiso they would seek media help to bring everything out in the open.

He said he tried very hard to keep his composure.

Hiso made the sanest move possible.

He walked out.

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True enough, no self-respecting media entity published what Filosopo et al. had foolishly claimed was Hiso?s intransigence.

Instead, Hiso was yesterday introduced to other national sports association presidents as the duly elected PhilCycling head during simple rites at the PhilSports in Pasig City.

As his first official act, Hiso will submit this week the list of cyclists for the national team competing in the Laos Southeast Asian Games in December.

Hiso did not say whether he felt relieved or vindicated.

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But yesterday, he took time out to express concern for Dr. Mikee Romero, a well-admired sportsman hereabouts.

Romero?s image suffered from the rabid attempt of this brutal group to have the young, good-looking sportsman elected as PhilCycling president, by hook or by crook.

One believable tale has it that the wild bid to have Romero installed as the highest cycling official in the country had the full backing of a Romero admirer.

It?s said that this man, a Negrense politician openly identified as a Malacañang lap dog, was seen plotting with Filosopo and Bautista, original Hiso allies, on the eve of the PhilCycling presidential election.

They said the cycling presidency would?ve been this man?s expression of his secret affection for the handsome elected cycling chair.

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(DISAGREEMENT: Super trader Sebastian Chua of Star Paper, recently elected president of the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) group that was arbitrarily ousted through another election sponsored by the POC, said he totally agrees with those who feel Messrs. Putch Puyat and Bong Ilagan should have not used the induction of officers of the Philippine Sportswriters Association at Manny Villar?s place on Shaw Blvd as platform for their own factional show. Chua said the BSCP election is now in court, and Puyat et al. should ?hold their own party for their own publicity gimmicks.?)