Ricky’s row with Romasanta ratchets higher

Napuno na ang salop,” Edgar Picson said Tuesday morning, mouthing the line tied to the late movie action hero Fernando Poe Jr.

In one of his films, Poe warned that his patience had run out before the bad guys suffered the fury of his character’s fists and firepower.

Picson, Philippine Olympic Committee spokesperson, employed the local idiom when his boss, POC president Ricky Vargas, got unglued as his public feuding with the majority in the agency’s executive board escalated in dramatic fashion on Monday.

Vargas has largely avoided direct confrontation with members of the majority that included his predecessor, ex-Rep. Jose Cojuangco Jr., who he said are fostering destabilization attempts against him.

But in an unexpected privilege speech at the end of an extraordinary POC General Assembly meeting, Vargas announced he was recalling his appointments of Cojuangco as chair of the POC constitutional amendments committee and Robert Bachmann as head of the membership committee.

Vargas, who won over Cojuangco in a court-ordered election last year, also relieved of their duties SEA Games chef de mission Monsour del Rosario and his deputy Charlie Ho, as well as POC first vice president Joey Romasanta, CDM to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The POC president named replacements for these positions, but one of them, Philippine Sports Commission Chair William Ramirez, refused to be dragged into the “war zone,” reported Inquirer sports scribe June Navarro.

Apparently miffed that the spat at the POC was hurting the morale of national athletes in training, Ramirez declined his appointment as CDM to the SEA Games in Clark City and other venues from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.

(Ed’s note: He later relented and accepted the post)

In another bombshell, Vargas also called for an election of all POC positions in January next year, months ahead of the mandated polls on the last Friday of November during an Olympic year.

But Romasanta, who described Vargas’ speech as a rambling blend of profanity and a roll call of imagined villains, wants the elections as soon as possible.

“I will not run for any position, but I am ready and willing to help prepare for any voting right away,” Romasanta said.

He also decried the attempt by Vargas to curtail dissent during the General Assembly. He complained that the meeting was adjourned abruptly and the sound system was shut off as he prepared to respond.

“President Vargas proposed early elections not because he wanted a showdown to see who had more sympathizers in the General Assembly,” according to Picson.

“Vargas merely wanted everyone to focus on the SEA Games hosting first.”