MANILA, Philippines - Calling it a patriotic duty, POC president Jose Cojuangco Jr. said yesterday he’s running for a third term in office because sports in the country is on the verge of a turnaround under his watch as he bared plans for new two-year initiative with the Asian Youth Championships, Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games and the Youth Olympics in mind.
Cojuangco, who turns 78 tomorrow, said he’s not about to give up the fight to set Philippine sports in the right direction even if “I don’t need this position.” He pointed to the painstaking effort of cleaning up the ranks of National Sports Associations (NSAs) to legitimize their status before the IOC and SEC as a major step in laying the foundations of an enduring sports infrastructure.
“For the first time in history, the POC Constitution and By-Laws are recognized by the IOC and we’ve settled over 95 percent of disputes at the NSA level,” he said. “We’ve required all NSAs to register with the SEC. What will happen to Philippine sports if it falls into the wrong hands? For instance, a group of so-called sports leaders was about to send 30 athletes to a competition in Europe but when the organizers checked, the concerned NSA had no knowledge of this delegation and the athletes were found to be impostors. The group also tried to smuggle out 13 supposed athletes but immigration authorities identified two of them as having been previously deported from Europe so they were all held in the airport. The racket of human trafficking is something we must stop and these crooks are using sports as a vehicle to transport people abroad. This group attempted to take over an NSA but fortunately, it didn’t happen.”
Cojuangco said the country’s performance in the SEA and Asian Games couldn’t be rated a failure since he took over the POC presidency in 2005. “We won the SEA Games championship for the first time ever in 2005,” he said. “In the last SEA Games, more than 50 percent of our athletes took medals in spite of the sabotage of the then PSC chairman who spent almost half of the budget for infrastructure without building anything new and overpriced the cost of security and janitorial services. He even cut back the athletes being supported by the PSC from 1,000 to 200. In 2006, we had our best performance in the Asian Games and in 2010, we missed out by a gold in repeating that record. Our legitimate dragon boat national team won championships over countries like Russia and the US but didn’t get the recognition it deserved unlike another dragon boat team that won a club competition with a lot of media fanfare. We’ve won championships in karate and muay thai but there are some who insist we’re failures.”
At the recent London Olympics, Cojuangco said it was evident that Filipino athletes lacked the strength and conditioning to compete at a high level. “It was the same pattern of running out of gas in nearly every sport,” he said. “Even the London sports officials mentioned that their athletes only began to excel after exposure to the sports sciences. Look at Andy Murray. Before, he would falter down the stretch. Now, he’s got the stamina to win in five sets. Some of our athletes haven’t even tasted a tablet of vitamins. To address this, we’re bringing in Carlos Sumulong on a two-year contract to take care of elite athletes, including developmental athletes from Batang Pinoy, who will be quartered at the ULTRA. We’re looking at 100 to 200 athletes aside from the national athletes being supported by the PSC. The program will be carried out by the POC with a budget of about P50 Million.”
Sumulong, a former NCAA All-American wrestler at San Francisco State where he is a Sports Hall of Famer, was recently cited as one of the US’ top trainers by Men’s Health Magazine. A Filipino migrant, he holds a certification as a training specialist from the National Strength and Conditioning Association of the US and owns the company VQ Fitness in Northern California. Sumulong is Cojuangco’s nephew.
“Carlos will look into all aspects of preparing our athletes for competition,” said Cojuangco. “He’ll be involved in nutrition, too, and the program will be almost like individual feeding. He’s worked with NFL and NBA players so he knows what he’s doing. His 10-year-old son is now ranked No. 6 in the US for his age group in wrestling so it’s obvious he also knows how to handle kids.”
Cojuangco said he’ll form his own ticket for the Nov. 30 POC polls. “I won’t go into this if I can’t handle the job,” he said. “I’m looking for partners who have the time for this mission. It’s not an easy task and I need a lot of help. I think someone like Manny (Pangilinan) will be a major asset to the POC with his knowledge and resources. I’ve talked to him about joining the POC as chairman. Is he eligible? Of course he is. He may not have attended General Assembly meetings but he’s always represented. He knows what’s going on in sports. I just feel if he’s with the POC, he’ll have a better way to monitor where the money he’s spending for sports is actually going.”
Cojuangco said if he wins a third term, he’ll push for the establishment of a training hub at Clark, construction of a new sports center, the improvement of the country’s performance in four major international competitions in the next two years and the building of a retirement village for athletes with Gawad Kalinga.
“I don’t think anyone has done a better job than me at the POC,” said Cojuangco. “In the past, isang pitik lang sa atin, dapa na tayo. But now, the POC is respected all over the world. I’ve been awarded by the IOC, Association of National Olympic Committees, Olympic Council of Asia and the SEA Games Federation where I am the honorary lifetime president. Nobody has attained those citations before and those awards can’t be bought. The honor isn’t mine, the honor is for our country.”