Mikee Romero new shooting president

MANILa—Harbour Centre CEO Mikee Romero was elected unopposed as president of the Philippine National Shooting Association during a general assembly late Tuesday at the association’s office in Pasig City.

Romero, moved by the show of unity, pledged to be more transparent in running the affair of the PNSA and vowed to send more shooters to the Olympics.

“I would like to personally thank the whole board for trusting me to head and lead this prestigious federation with the sole objective of propagating shooting and developing future Olympians,” said Romero, who drew the nod of all 14 directors of the PNSA board.

Romero took over from long-time chief Art Macapagal, who resigned last March.

Board chair Boy Tronqued earlier withdrew his bid to seek the top PNSA post, paving the way for the unanimous vote that made the 40-year-old Romero the youngest official to lead the PNSA.

“I’m now preparing a five-year program with the aim of producing more Olympians,” said Romero, who will serve the remaining year of Macapagal.

Romero, one of the owners of the soon-to-be-launched AirAsia Phils., said his immediate concern is to push the five different shooting groups—moving target, pistol, rifle, practical and ISSF—to come up with a solid plan of action for the association’s participation in the coming Southeast Asian Games.

Romero, also a staunch baseball backer, hopes that the five groups can expand their membership base to have a deeper talent pool to work with.

“The association has this big responsibility of growing shooting in the country, and together, hand in hand, we can do this,” Romero said.

He said that Tronqued is likely to retain his post while Col. Danilo Gamboa of rifle may be tapped as secretary general with Dave Escalona as executive director.