Bambol: POC polls on despite Olympics postponement

The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics certainly won’t be a reason for the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) not to hold its elections in the next two months.

The executive board will sit down in a meeting via Zoom on Saturday to tackle the nitty-gritty of the POC polls scheduled on the last Friday of November as it fulfills a provision in the constitution and bylaws of the local Olympic body.

Among the subtopics of the controversial polls that the 13-man board will talk about are the period of filing of candidacy, notice of elections, its venue and conduct of election in a COVID-19 atmosphere as well as the formation of an ad hoc electoral committee.

“It should push through. It is clear in the constitution, even if there was a postponement of the Summer Olympics,’’ POC president Abraham “Bambol’’ Tolentino said.

Olympics moved

According to Article VII, Section 2 of the POC constitution, in the event that the Olympic Games is not held during a four-year Olympiad, the general assembly shall nevertheless meet on the last Friday of November in the year on which the Olympic Games was supposed to have been held, for the purpose of electing the officers for the ensuing four years.

The International Olympic Committee and Japan organizers have rescheduled the 2020 Tokyo Olympics from July 23, 2021 to Aug. 8, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was originally set to take place last July 24 to Aug. 9.

Tolentino, a Cavite congressman, won the POC presidency by garnering 24 of the 44 possible votes to defeat athletics chief Philip Ella Juico during the elections on July 28, 2019.

Tolentino will be seeking a full four-year term in the coming Nov. 27 POC polls as he hopes to witness a possible Olympic gold medal under his watch.

“I feel that in the coming Olympics, we can win at least one gold medal,’’ Tolentino said. INQ