MANILA, Philippines - After earning a fresh mandate as president of the Philippine Olympic Committee, Jose “Peping” Cojuangco extended his hand to the opposition and talked about his immediate plans aimed at keeping Philippine sports on track.
The 82-year-old Cojuangco ran unopposed yesterday, garnering 26 votes from the 37 voters present. There are 43 qualified voters in this elections but six of them failed to vote, including boxing under Ricky Vargas and cycling under Rep. Abraham Tolentino.
Vargas and Tolentino filed their candidacies for president and chairman, respectively, but were disqualified by the POC election committee for failure to meet the requirement on being active members of the general assembly.
The elections came a day after Pasig City Judge Elma Rafallo-Lingan denied a petition by Vargas for a Temporary Restraining Order that would have put the exercise, held at the end of every Olympic year, on hold.
Cojuangco was all smiles after gaining his fourth term in the elections that lasted an hour at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club. He said that now that the elections are over, it’s time for sports leaders to put their act together and help Philippine sports.
“That’s automatic,” said Cojuangco.
“I’ve been to a lot of elections in my life. When the game is over, the elections are over, the idea is to put everybody together again and go for the objective which is to be helpful to the community,” said the equestrian chief.
“I think the POC is supposed to do that. My role now is to put everybody together,” said Cojuangco.
He said this year’s elections were far different from that in 2008 when he defeated the late Arturo Macapagal of shooting in a tighly fought contest for the POC presidency, 21-19. He also ran unopposed in 2012 and got 32 votes.
“I ran against Art Macapagal but it was not as dirty as this. I didn’t like the ventilating of the issues with media. Obviously it didn’t help and it hurt the POC,” said Cojuangco, who reiterated his promise to deliver two gold medals for the country in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“As long as we give our athletes all the support that they need, I can guarantee that,” said Cojuangco.
In a statement handed over to the press by Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio, Vargas said regardless of the results of the elections, he remains hopeful that the court will find merit in his case that he is a qualified candidate.
“There is a pending case for hearing on Dec. 6 and 19. Among the matters to be discussed is the proper interpretation of the term ‘active member’ of the General Assembly, which, in turn will determine the propriety of the disqualification,” he said.
“Out of respect for court processes, it should necessarily be without prejudice to the proper and final resolution by the courts of law on the matter. Therefore, we formally manifest for the record that the results of these elections, depending on the eventual ruling of the proper courts of law, may still be legally affected or corrected,” said Vargas.
Aside from Cojuangco, earning fresh four-year terms were Jose Romasanta of volleyball as first vice-president, Col Jeff Tamayo of soft tennis as second vice president, Julian Camacho of wushu as treasurer, Jonne Go of canoe-kayak as auditor, and Cynthia Carrion of gymnastics, Clint Aranas of archery, Robert Mananquil of billiards and Rep. Prospero Pichay of chess as board members.
There was no candidate for chairman but Tom Carrasco of triathlon will hold on to the post until the general assembly decides on the matter.
Cojuangco has yet to name his secretary-general, a post currently held by Steve Hontiveros of bowling.
Romasanta defeated Rep. Albee Benitez of badminton, 23-14; Tamayo won against Gen. Lucas Managuelod of Muay Thai, 26-1, while Camacho won over Sonny Barrios of basketball, 25-12. Go ran unopposed and earned the most number of votes at 31, while Carrion and Aranas both got 30 votes, Mananquil 28 and Pichay 27.
Cojuangco said he will continue to push for the creation of new training centers for the national athletes. He said he is already in touch with a handful of local government officials regarding the use of lands for the training centers.
“I would like a place to stay for our athletes and start going to the provinces of my friends who will help maintain the training centers for us. I will focus on that. We can’t wait to build one training center for everybody,” he said.
“Maybe we can put all martial arts or water sports together, if we can find a place for them then they can all stay in one place. Then we can take care of them,” said Cojuangco.
Frank Elizalde, who headed the election committee that also included Rep. Conrado Estrella III and Bro. Bernie Oca, was glad it’s all over now, saying the non-issuance of the TRO kept things in order.
“The judicial decision sort of stabilized things. I’m very thankful to the sitting judge because she did a very good job in interpreting the rules. That makes me proud of our judiciary,” he said.
“Hopefully we can all move forward. I hope the other side so to speak will continue to work with the POC or plan for future elections,” he said.