Juico set to take over as Patafa chief from ailing Go

NAYPYITAW—Former Philippine Sports Commission chair Philip Ella Juico is set to take over as new athletics chief at the start of the new year.

A reliable source told the Inquirer that ailing Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (Patafa) president Go Teng Kok will relinquish his post to Juico next month after updating Patafa’s registration papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If elected, Juico, who is the delegation head of athletics in the ongoing 27th Southeast Asian Games here, said he would focus on long-distance events where Filipino tracksters have a good shot at the Asian Games, world championships and the Olympics.

“For now, we’ll work with what we have,” said Juico.

The former Secretary of Agrarian Reform during the term of President Corazon Aquino and CEO of IBC-13 pointed out that there should be a deep pool of talents for the country to bring back the glory in the sport.

“We have to talk with the DepEd (Department of Education) on the PE (physical education) program,” said Juico, also the current vice chair of the Patafa and president of the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club.

“You can’t have PE once a week if you want to have a deep pool.”