Friday, March 30, 2007 Puentevella defends sports post By Henry C. Villalva
BACOLOD Lone District Representative Monico O. Puentevella Thursday defended his being a head of a national sports association (NSA) while being a politician at the same time by saying that he had been a sportsman for thirty years before he became a politician.
Puentevella, a former commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) before he became head of the Philippine Wrestling Association and consequently first vice-president of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), was reacting to criticism by senatorial candidate of the opposition Francis "Chiz" Escudero.
Escudero Thursday challenged incumbent government officials to vacate their sports designations and leave the NSAs in the hands of private individuals.
He specifically cited Puentevella and administration senatorial bet Prospero Pichay who is president of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP).
Escudero was quoted by national dailies as saying, "just imagine, as congressmen they deliberate on the yearly budget and call Philippine Sports Commission officials to defend their budget. But the next day they knock on the doors of the PSC to ask for their share of the budget."
But a Bacolod sportsman who requested not to be identified told Sun.Star Bacolod, "It really depends on how you look at it because as a sportsman, Puentevella also uses his clout to bring sports benefits to Bacolod like the hosting in 2005 of the Southeast Asian Games, which brought about a tourist boom and generated business revenues for the city aside from putting our city on the international sports map."
