Suspense off poll body’s decree on Go Teng Kok

GO TENG Kok is packing heat of the emotional caliber while awaiting a decision from the election body of the Philippine Olympic Committee.

Making up its mind is not the poll group’s best suit. Led by a former solon, it has again put off ruling whether GTK, the athletics chief, is qualified to challenge Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., the incumbent POC head in his run for a third straight term.

GTK would like that face-off very much. But it may not happen because life is unfair. Some people win the lottery. And some don’t. He knows that to be born defiant is a bit more difficult than being born obedient.

Warts and all, GTK has led his national sports association for years. Of late, he has worked himself into a state of indignation, righteous and riotous at the same time, while insisting that he is qualified to run against President Noynoy Aquino’s uncle.

Meantime, Mr. Cojuangco has continually blasted Go as an unfit candidate. Uncle Peping is not looking forward to a GTK candidacy when POC voters gather at the Alabang Golf Club come Nov. 30.

I am not about to waste an inch more of newsprint explaining the Go-Cojuangco imbroglio earlier resolved by the Supreme Court but remains the fulcrum of more legal twists days before the POC voting.

With GTK facing certain defeat, a frequently asked question by my editor friends and I begs for an answer.

Why not let the guy run anyway?

A Cojuangco camp insider who asked not to be named may have taken the suspense off the POC election committee’s eventual decision tomorrow at the latest.

After an initial moment of shock, the insider—a pro-GTK ruling by the High Court notwithstanding—insisted that “Go is a no-go because he is not recognized to run, period.”

Invoking the POC constitution, the insider said in order to vie for the presidency, you must have prior or current tenure as head of an NSA and as such is an official representative of the association.

“As an NSA head expelled and declared persona non grata unanimously by the POC General Assembly, it is simply not possible for Go to become a candidate because he has lost his official capacity as a recognized NSA rep,” the source said.

Wouldn’t the POC chief savor triumph over GTK? So why can’t Mr. Cojuangco just annul Go’s expulsion?

“Cojuangco did not remove GTK, the General Assembly members did,” according to the source. “To tinker with their decision is an impeachable offense.”

After all is said and done, Go is out to score a moral victory. Cojuangco wants a pesky personality completely out of his hair.

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The question vexing the people of my picturesque birthplace, Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija is whether it is about to become the garbage central for all of Luzon.

Right under the town’s nose, the Cuyapo municipal council has approved a project by the giant International Solid Waste and Integrated Management Services to turn Barangay Simimbaan the Payatas of the central plains and mountain provinces.

Streamers crying foul over the project are fluttering around town. People are raising a big stink because the planned mother of all dumps sailed through the municipal and barangay process without public input.

The catholic church of Cuyapo is among the most vocal of critics, while the “basura” issue is shaping up as a flash point in a three-cornered mayoral fight in May.