POC chief appeals for peace, harmony

Forced to choose between a personal crusade and the welfare of the local athletes, Philippine Olympic Committee president Celso Dayrit yesterday chose the latter as he asked his rivals to bury the hatchet and work for the sake of the athletes gearing up for this year’s Southeast Asian Games.

"I appeal to my colleagues for peace and unity. Let us set aside our differences and work together to make our coming SEA Games performance a fruitful one," said Dayrit, a day after hitting back at his detractors whom he claimed are out to destabilize the POC.

But athletics chief Go Teng Kok, who felt alluded to in Dayrit’s tirade against sports leaders who are using the athletes to pursue their own agenda and discredit the POC leadership, refused to accept Dayrit’s offer for unity.

He even questioned Dayrit’s performance at the POC helm.

"I don’t want to talk to that kind of person," said Go referring to Dayrit. "Puro siya salita walang gawa. Bakit hindi niya ipakita sa performance?"

This came about as Jaime Sebastian, the head of one group of athletes, coaches and officials which mounted a recent protest march, denied that he is being used by some national sports association leaders critical of Dayrit.

"I am not a bad person and I have not allowed anybody to use me because what I’ve been doing is for the sake of the athlete," said Sebastian, a former weightlifting champion, said in Tagalog.

Sebastian said that his group, the Alliance of Athletes and Coaches of the Philippines whose recent move was to call for the ouster of the Philippine Sports Commission officials, is planning to stage another rally, this time to ask for the resignation of Dayrit.

But while Sebastian and Go continued their tirade against Dayrit, the POC head asked the two to keep the athletes out of the controversy and let them stay focused on their training for the SEA Games slated this September in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

"What we need to do right now is to whip our athletes into top physical and mental shape. We can’t achieve this if our athletes are forever distracted by intrigues and bickerings," said Dayrit.

On the POC Ethics Committee’s decision to censure him for his interference in the affairs of other NSAs like the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP ), Go said he will not appeal his case although he said the verdict was " unfair" .