JUST as I thought, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) Chairman Peping Cojuangco tried to hide behind IOC’s skirt to avoid having to hold an actual election with actual candidates against him. But too bad for him--and fortunately for Philippine sports--the IOC saw through his actions.
In a letter dated Feb. 9, IOC deputy director general and NOC relations director told Cojuangco in a two-page letter to let the general assembly resolve the latest impasse in the POC, which a local court had ordered to hold another election.
To summarize the latest impasse, Peping, who promised not to run for a fourth term, ran and won in 2017 because no other candidate was allowed to run. Ricky Vargas, the disqualified candidate, filed a case against Peping, whose third term also came via uncontested election.
The court sided with Vargas and ordered the POC to hold another election. Weeks since that decision came out, the POC has pretended there’s no order. In fact, in the last general assembly, when Ed Picson of boxing asked Peping what steps the POC are taking to address the issue, not only was he rebuffed, he had his microphone turned off.
That very same general assembly has been tasked by the IOC to resolve the matter.
“To this effect, we recommend that you convene urgently an extraordinary meeting of your NOC general assembly to address this situation in an appropirate manner and in the presence of all interested parties,” Miro wrote in his letter to Peping, underlining the word urgently.
One more thing, Miro ordered that all interested parties must be present, perhaps knowing how Peping and his camp maneuvered to have other candidates disqualified in the last election, he feared the group will do the same and hold a general assembly without them.
So, where does that leave the POC? Well, it finally has to do what it should have done nine years ago, hold a real election where a candidate is allowed to challenge Peping, who has been in charge since 2004 and hasn’t really done match for Philippine sports.
I hope the NSA president will have the guts to make their stand and will not just play a waiting game. We need people with integrity to run Philippine sports, we don’t need overstaying guys like Peping who’s only after himself.
So finally, in this corner of the world, it’s Peping vs. Vargas, the traditional politician who’s down to his last tricks against a man who wants to bring change. The one who should have been gone two elections ago and the man who should be in charge.