Stubborn POC refuses to heed court order for polls

Ricky Vargas. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

The call for change fell on deaf ears yet again as the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) refused to budge even after the Court of Appeals (CA) denied its request to stop the court-ordered elections on Feb. 23.

“All we’re asking for is let’s have an election and follow the court order,” said boxing chief Ricky Vargas after the POC general assembly—which POC president Peping Cojuangco hastily adjourned when discussion on the elections turned heated—Wednesday at Wack Wack Golf and Country Club.

“I think it’s all about delaying—this whole process. It’s very clear to me that they don’t want an election.”

The RTC had declared null and void the 2016 POC polls where Cojuangco earned a fourth straight term as president.

Cojuangco ran unopposed then after the POC election committee disqualified potential rival Vargas.

The RTC decision and the CA’s denial of the POC petition for a TRO last Tuesday should have paved the way for an election by Feb. 23, but the incumbent local Olympic officials noted during the assembly that they have yet to receive a copy of the decision.

“They wanted to have an election right away, but we have to go through a process,” said POC deputy secretary general Simeon Garcia of lawn bowls, who added that they have also filed a petition for review at the Court of Appeals.

“The Feb. 23 election will most probably not happen because of the pending petition for review,” added Garcia. “And Mr. Cojuangco doesn’t want to have an election because of the legal remedies POC wants to avail of.”

“The next move is we wait what the RTC court will have to say on the implementation of the elections on Feb. 23,” said Vargas.