POC mum on Loyzaga replacement

THE PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee made its recommendation as to who will replace resigned commissioner Chito Loyzaga in the PSC, but refused to divulge the name it submitted to Malacañang.

This developed as the PSC announced that it was abandoning a major grassroots program it earlier agreed on during a sports summit—a decision that has been linked to Loyzaga’s resignation.

Former police general Lucas Managuelod and golfer-businessman Iggy Clavecilla have been mentioned as possible replacements for Loyzaga, who will focus on taking care of his father—the stroke-hit basketball great Caloy—in Australia.

But POC chief Jose “Peping” Cojouangco kept mum on his recommendation.

“It is not advisable to mention names of possible replacements because if they are not appointed, people might think there is something wrong with the person,” said Cojuangco.

While the appointment of PSC commissioner is largely a prerogative of Malacañang, Cojuangco has proven his influence after getting his nominees, Richie Garcia and Buddy Andrada, appointed by President Aquino as chair and commissioner of the government’s sports funding agency.

Meanwhile, Garcia yesterday said the plan to deploy 450 coaches to provinces and train athletes discovered there has been shelved, with the money initially earmarked for the project possibly diverted to the different national sports associations.

Garcia added the PSC will implement the project once the agency identifies the coaches fit to train provincial talents.

“Right now, it’s not doable,” he said of the project agreed upon initially by the POC, PSC, the Education department and various Local Government Units. “We don’t want to make the mistake of picking a coach only to find out that he’s not capable of carrying out the task.”

Garcia said the P100 million that the PSC was supposed to pour into the project could possibly be used to fund the NSAs that were not given priority status by the PSC.