Hockey agency to start fresh, will settle account with PSC

Larong Hockey sa Pilipinas (LHP) has started its house-cleaning, and step No. 1 is repaying unliquidated funds to the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to the tune of P4 million.

True to its promise to reboot the fledgling federation—which to its credit has won for the country a bronze during the 2019 Southeast Asian Games—the LHP board of trustees said it wants a clean slate beginning with its account with the government agency.

“We have funds to cover these unliquidated accounts made by the previous administration,” said acting chief Steve Hontiveros, who took over the resigned president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr.

Next in its agenda are restructuring of the LHP charter and the hiring of a foreign coaching consultant.

“We want to take small steps, we are just a small NSA (national sports association),” said Hontiveros. “This is the foundation. So hopefully, when we put these in place, we can have an election.”

Hontiveros, who is also the concurrent president of Philippine Handball Federation, said they hope to field a team to the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games that was moved to the middle of next year from its original schedule of November this year.

He said a foreign coach is vital for the formation of a national team. “We’ll look for somebody who can teach our local coaches, first,” Hontiveros said.

From then on, the local coaches can start forming the national team whose members will be gathered from top schools in the country.