House to probe POC under Peping

The House of Representatives will look into the alleged mismanagement of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and the supposed abuse of authority by its officials led by Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., uncle of former president Benigno Aquino III.

House Resolution 579, authored by Reps. Salvador Belaro Jr. of party-list group Ang Edukasyon and Ron Salo of Kabayan, prompted the investigation.

Rep. Mikee Romero of 1-Pacman, vice chairman of the committee on youth and sports development, said the panel would schedule hearings when Congress resumes session in mid-January.

In their resolution, Belaro and Salo said the mismanagement of the POC has resulted in the poor showing of the country in international sports events.

“From ranking first in the most number of medals in the Southeast Asian Games in 2005 (112 gold medals, 84 silver medals and 94 bronze medals), the Philippines now ranks sixth. In the Asian Games, the country ranked 18th in 2006; it is now in 24th,” they said.

In the 12-year stewardship of the POC by current president Cojuangco, the country won only one Olympic medal, they said.

Cojuangco recently won another four-year term in a contentious election, in which his opponents were disqualified.

Belaro and Salo noted that Senators Juan Edgardo Angara and Antonio Trillanes IV, and Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, have attributed the country’s poor showing in sports events to POC’s mismanagement.

They said Angara had questioned the decision of the POC not to allow the multi-awarded and world champion Philippine Dragonboat Team to participate in the SEA Games in Myanmar in 2014.

They said Trillanes filed a malversation case against Cojuangco in 2013 in connection with the release of funds to alleged bogus national sports associations.

They added that former Philippine Sports Commission chairman Harry Angping had filed another malversation case against the POC for its failure to account for P73.2 million in PSC financial assistance.

Belaro and Salo pointed out that the POC was asked to account for P130 million in funding aid from the PSC.

They stressed that the people, “through their elected representatives, would like to inquire into these alleged mismanagement and abuse of power by long-term POC leaders so that the organization can be reformed and can focus on the training and development of world-class Filipino athletes.”

Earlier, Romero urged Cojuangco to quit his post to give way to younger sports leaders.

Cojuangco is the younger brother of former president Corazon Aquino.