Tolentino shuts down poll reset call

The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) faces a problem with its planned elections on Nov. 27, one so familiar nowadays that a member of the body motioned to postpone the polls: the current health pandemic.

“It was already referred to the [POC] executive board,’’ POC president and Cavite Rep. Abraham “Bambol’’ Tolentino told the Inquirer.

Citing health risks, former POC chair Monico Puentevella, a voting member as chief of the weightlifting federation, motioned to postpone the elections due to the problem that some voters might have making it to the venue of the polls.

Talking to at least 50 national sports association heads in Wednesday’s general assembly held online, Puentevella said the scarcity of flights from the Visayas and Mindanao, where some federation heads are based, might spur the absence of some voters.

The three-man election committee created by the local Olympic body after the POC general assembly will likely sort out that problem.

Tolentino immediately ruled the motion as out of order since it was not included in the agenda and directed the concern to the POC executive board, which would need to tackle the issue in a special meeting.