Pinning hopes on the PSC

Is there reason to hope for anything good, honest and bright to come out of the stormy election issue in the Philippine Olympic Committee?

A POC election has been set this Friday, Feb. 23, maybe in compliance with the courts.

But a group fighting for drastic reforms, headed by boxing agency chief Ricky Vargas, didn’t sound optimistic at all. They were able to secure majority of board votes demanding an election.

But the last-minute composition of an election committee, that again includes grizzled Cojuangco lapdog Frankie Elizalde, fuels fears everything would drag down to the phony qualification issue used by Cojuangco to disqualify Vargas and Cavite Rep. Abraham Tolentino from participating in the POC polls of 2016.

Truth is majority of people involved in sports hereabouts have long given up on the POC under Cojuangco.

There were those who would rather turn to other sources of hope, like the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

Take the case of the president of the Rizal Technological University (RTU) who has turned to PSC commissioner Ramon Fernandez for clarification on the “Rules and Regulations Governing Contract of Service and Job Orders in the Government.”

He writes:

“The Rizal Technological University is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, among State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) in sports competitions, particularly the SCUAA-NCR where we have won overall championship the past 14 years.

We also participate in the NAASCU, where we have won three straight overall championships in as many years of participating. We have won many gold medals in the Unigames as well.

Many of our athletes go on to play for national teams and in commercial leagues like the PBA.

“All our achievements can be attributed to the high quality of our coaches and trainors. However, these coaches are all under contract of service. There are provisions in the Joint Circular which may be interpreted to favor the hiring of coaches as contractual, but we need to clarify from the concerned agencies if our interpretation would jive with theirs-or else we may be facing disallowances and suspensions.

I would like to suggest the intercession of the PSC for the clarification of these issues. Most definitely, if we no longer be allowed to hire coaches on contractual basis, the sports programs of the State Universities and Colleges might collapse or we could lapse into athletic mediocrity.”

JESUS RODRIGO F. TORRES, DPA CSEE, SUC president 111 & University professor