Aranas group seeks Tolentino disqualification

Barely a week before the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) holds its elections, incumbent president Abraham Tolentino is facing disqualification complaints.

The POC election committee (elecom) scheduled a virtual hearing for Thursday to address the complaints against Tolentino and five other candidates: triathlon’s Tom Carrasco who is running for chair, Cynthia Carrion of gymnastics (treasurer) and board member candidates Raul Canlas of surfing and judo’s Dave Carter.

The complaint was filed by the group of lawyer Clint Aranas, the archery chief who is challenging Tolentino for the presidency.

The group alleges that Tolentino and Carrion are in violation of the International Olympic Committee charter when they were included in the payroll of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc), which ran the country’s hosting of the Southeast Asian Games.

Carrasco, Carter and Canlas, meanwhile, are being questioned due to the eligibility status of their national sports association.

The POC elecom will give the parties concerned the opportunity to present their respective positions before handing down the decision prior to the Nov. 27 polls.

The development came as national athletes began receiving their full allowances after a brief period where their monthly paycheck was slashed in half because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Charles Maxey of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) said on Wednesday that athletes and coaches had their allowances restored since October.

The commissioner added that slashed portions of their allowances from July to September would be retroactively returned to the athletes before the Christmas season kicks in, something that Tolentino helped work for when he pushed for insertions into the Bayanihan 2 law that created additional funding for sports.

“Once again, I would like to thank the PSC, our lawmakers and the government for the value that they give to our efforts,’’ said SEA Games triathlon double gold medalist Nikko Huelgas.