‘Golden’ Tolentino gets shot at another Olympic triumph

Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Under Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino’s term as Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president, the country won its first gold medal in the Summer Games.

And two more in the Olympics that followed.

He gets a shot at a third straight golden showing in the Games after he won yet another term as POC chief—overwhelmingly, as expected.

“The General Assembly has spoken,” said Tolentino, who garnered 45 votes—75 percent of the 621 voting members of the POC.

Baseball chief Chito Loyzaga, who challenged Tolentino, received just 15 votes.

The group opposing Tolentino’s reelection had filed a temporary restraining order in a bid to stop the elections, but none was issued and voting proceeded without a hitch.

“I think performance was the basis [of the landslide victory],” Tolentino, the 60-year-old cycling chief, told reporters after the elections.

Unopposed

Basketball’s Al Panlilio ran unopposed and got 53 votes. Rep. Richard Gomez topped the race for second vice president, routing skateboarding’s Carl Sambrano, 37-22.

“It’s not for me, but for the country, for the POC and for our athletes,” Tolentino said of his victory, before emphasizing: “For the athletes, athletes, athletes.”

“We will continue what we’ve been doing all along, which is to take really good care of our athletes,” Tolentino added.

He will have his preferred “working team” backing him up as he heads the country’s bid to nail yet another gold in the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

Dr. Jose Raul Canlas (surfing) was also unopposed as treasurer with 54 votes and Donaldo Caringal (volleyball), running for internal auditor, got 47 points, to beat Rodrigo Roque, who only had 12.

Completing the Tolentino team’s lopsided victory were new Executive Board members Leonora Escollante (canoe-kayak, 45 votes), Alvin Aguilar (wrestling, 44 votes), Ferdinand Agustin (jiujitsu, 41 votes), Alexander Sulit (judo, 41 votes) and Leah Gonzales (fencing, 40 votes).

Apart from the 58 national sports associations, there were also two voters from the Athletes’ Commission and one from the International Olympic Committee, which is represented here by Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski. INQ