Doubts cast on need for POC elections

MANILA, Philippines–Should the planned snap polls of the Philippine Olympic Committee push through?

Depends on who you ask.

Former POC secretary general Steve Hontiveros, currently the handball association boss, said on Friday that the Olympic body must prioritize the Southeast Asian Games the country will host from November 30 to December 10 over the need to replace former POC chiefs Ricky Vargas and Joey Romasanta, who resigned in succession a week apart.

“Let’s save the SEA Games the POC can run with the current officers in place,” Hontiveros told the Inquirer. “After the SEA Games then let’s deal with all of these.”

Former POC chair and current weightlifting body head Monico Puentevella begs to differ.

“Let’s settle it as soon as possible because we can’t allow these bickering during the SEA Games. We can do it now and avoid even more embarrassment before our SEA neighbors,” added Puentevella.

The difference in opinion is likely to run down the lines splitting the factions within the Olympic body and Romasanta, the long-time right-hand man of former POC president Peping Cojuangco, wants a clear direction. After announcing his resignation as Vargas’ successor to “give way to new faces” in the POC, the former Gintong Alay project director, who also backed the call for snap polls, now wants the executive board to decide in a meeting on July 1 if it will recommend to the general assembly that the body hold elections for all posts.

Hontiveros insists there is already a measure in place to resolve the current leadership vacuum in the POC.

“In the absence of president, we have first vice president, and the second vice president, that’s the rule of succession. Why complicate it even more?” Hontiveros told the Inquirer.

Cycling association president and Cavite Rep.-elect Bambol Tolentino already gave the answer previously. The first and second vice presidents, he said, are not eligible to hold the post of president based on the POC charter. The charter states that only NSA presidents of Olympic sports can sit as POC chief. POC first vice president Romasanta is also vice president of the volleyball association while Jeff Tamayo, the second vice president, heads soft tennis, which is not an Olympic sport.

Tolentino was supposed to question Romasanta’s eligibility in a special meeting last June 25, but that turned into a mass resignation of the executive board. Only three members of the executive board, who weren’t present during the meeting, did not announce their resignations.

It was also decided in that meeting that the snap polls would be held July 5 and in fact, an election committee had already been formed, with lawyer and former Comelec commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal reportedly being named chairman.

But with Romasanta wavering, the elections, which many see as the surest way to reboot the POC, just might be stalled.

Much of the stalling could stem from the fact that billiards boss Robert Mananquil has been quoted as saying that a lot of those who resigned did so in the heat of the moment and were set to change their minds.

“Now tell me, you think the rest of the POC officers will be willing to step down? They have mandates; they have terms of office,” Hontiveros added.

The POC chairmanship will reportedly be disputed by Puentevella, former Philippine Sports Commission chair and athletics head Philip Ella Juico and former POC chair and taekwondo chief Robert Aventajado.

Tolentino, the cycling chief, is reportedly building his ticket to run for president. He is expected to face archery’s Clint Aranas, the current GSIS president and general manager, who is reportedly running as independent candidate.