Sports probe must reach blind IOC

Mariano “Nonong” Araneta. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

National football association head Nonong Araneta said he was not alone—“Hindi ako nag iisa”—in his quest for change in the rotten leadership set-up at the Philippine Olympic Committee.

“I will go all the way to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). We will file a complaint with the IOC Ethics Committee against Peping Cojuanco,” Araneta told national sports development guru Dr. Aparicio Mequi in a recent text message.

Himself reporting, Dr. Mequi said Sen. Sonny Angara would file a Senate resolution calling for an investigation of POC’s unliquidated funds (received from the Philippine Sports Commission), as well as its election rules.

“This is now one of the most significant events in Philippine sports,” Dr. Mequi noted.

Anyway, a report yesterday said Sen. Angara has filed a resolution seeking to direct the committee on sports chaired by Sen. Manny Pacquiao to conduct an inquiry on the reported P129 million in funding the POC received from the PSC from 2010 to 2016.

Just fine, said Cojuangco.  A Senate hearing would be a good venue to face each other and find out who’s telling the truth, Cojuangco explained.

National boxing agency chief Ricky Vargas, whose bid to run for POC president has been junked by the Cojuangco-controlled POC election committee, claimed it should be fairly easy for the POC to account for the public money it received from the PSC.

Of course, there’s the bigger issue of Vargas’ disqualification that urgently needs looking into.

Angara said the imposition of eligibility requirements for candidates that limited participation of other members was unjust.

Cojuangco maintained the “active membership” requirement is meant to make sure that the president or chair who will be elected “knows everything that’s happening in the POC, not just in his sport.”

Cojuangco’s one-sided dictatorial stand has been met with massive protestations from various sectors that decried the selfishness and injustice. The IOC however continued to play deaf and blind to all the complaints against Cojuangco.

All said, it’s now left in the mighty hands of Sen. Pacquiao to wake up the IOC, which continued to coddle Cojuangco through three impotent presidential terms, the most hideous and unproductive in Philippine sports history.