POC polls to push through

POC hold-over chairman Rep. Bambol Tolentino said yesterday there will definitely be a special election for vacant positions in the Executive Board at the Golden Bay Restaurant on Macapagal Boulevard, Pasay City, at 11: 30 a.m. on July 5.

“We’ve taken note of the 10-day requirement to call for a special election,” said Tolentino. “This was agreed upon by the majority of the General Assembly members who gathered for a meeting at GSIS last Tuesday. There’s no need to convene the Executive Board to discuss the special election because the majority of the General Assembly has voiced its sentiments.

Tolentino confirmed that the General Assembly meeting last Tuesday was out of order. “It failed to follow the 10-day notice stipulated by the POC Constitution and By-Laws for an extraordinary General Assembly meeting,” he said. “The corporation code actually requires a 7-day notice so the POC stipulation is more stringent. But even as the meeting was not in order, the majority of the General Assembly spoke out. The agreement was to hold a special election.

In Tuesday’s gathering, several POC officers tendered their voluntary resignations, leaving the positions of chairman, president, first vice president, treasurer, auditor and two Executive Board members vacant. Joey Romasanta, who assumed the POC presidency after Ricky Vargas’ irrevocable resignation last week, took about 10 minutes to decide whether or not to resign and in the end, he did.

Romasanta said because the General Assembly was not formally in session, the decisions that were made during the gathering aren’t binding. Tolentino said otherwise. “Any lawyer worth his salt would know that a verbal contract is as binding as a written contract,” said Tolentino. “We gave our word in front of the members of the General Assembly that we were resigning. I am keeping my word even if I am acting as chairman in hold-over capacity until a new one is elected on July 5. I will not go back on my word and I hope everyone who did so would be decent enough to also honor their word.

The three Executive Board members who were not present last Tuesday have yet to resign. One of them Jeff Tamayo said he would hold on to his position until his term expires next year but will not run for any position in the next regular election scheduled on the third Friday of November on the Olympic year. The two others Rep. Butch Pichay and Robert Mananquil have not made known their stand.

Tolentino said IOC honorary member Frank Elizalde has declined to be COMELEC commissioner for the special election as he won’t be back in town until mid-July. Former COMELEC commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, who served in the government agency for seven years, has agreed to be the COMELEC chairman with Atty. Al Agra and Ferdie Agustin as members. Agra and Agustin are officers of non-voting associate NSAs. Agra is president of the Pilipinas Obstacle Sports Foundation while Agustin is secretary-general of the Jiu Jitsu Federation of the Philippines. Choy Cojuangco, Jiu Jitsu Federation president, should’ve been appointed as member but isn’t available, designating Agustin instead. 

Regarding Romasanta’s qualification, Tolentino said he was once president of the karate NSA that was disaffiliated by its International Federation and recently became president of the volleyball NSA when Vargas resigned. The POC president must be an incumbent president of an Olympic sport NSA with four years of experience in the position. “Everybody knows his situation,” said Tolentino. “But if Joey thinks he’s qualified to be POC president, why doesn’t he run for the position?

Tolentino said if at least 23 NSAs are represented in the POC special election, the outcome will be valid to fill the vacant positions. “When the deadline is to file certificates of candidacy will be determined by the COMELEC and that could be the day before the election,” he said. “The General Assembly wants a clean slate, a fresh start. This is an opportunity to regroup and unite.

To show everyone, especially the athletes, that they’re willing to sacrifice their positions in the spirit of Olympism, the call is to resign from the Executive Board en masse. Not just seven members but each and every one. It’s the least the Executive Board should do to give the POC a new life and bury the ghost of a stormy past. The SEA Games are coming soon and the National Olympic Committees of neighboring countries will want to know if things are back to normal in the POC.

The special election is a golden opportunity for the POC to prove it can rise from adversity and reemerge as a bastion of Olympic solidarity. It won’t be a fresh start if some Executive Board members insist on holding on to their positions. The clamor is to wipe the slate clean, start from scratch and move forward with a renewed sense of unity, integrity and democracy in a politics-free POC.