WILL there be an election for president and chairman, respectively, of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) on February 23?
Ricky Vargas has been raring to fight incumbent president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, itching to dethrone the man he so truly considered as having stolen the presidency from him in 2016.
That’s because Vargas was disqualified by the Frank Elizalde-headed Election Committee for being an “inactive member” of the POC’s General Assembly.
Also ousted in 2016 for the same reason was Abraham Tolentino, who would have run for POC chairman; he is now a lawmaker representing Tagaytay City.
But the polls of two years ago are water under the bridge now if we go by a Pasig court’s 2017 decision ordering the POC to hold a new election this month.
A 2017 Pasig court ordered the new polls after finding Illegal in the disqualification of Vargas and Tolentino in 2016.
After the verdict got affirmed by the Court of Appeals, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) told the POC to honor the decision.
While Vargas has since busied himself in his new presidential bid, not Tolentino.
And so, will Tolentino also run, and in tandem anew with Vargas?
But while we were asleep, Chavit Singson, the billionaire former Ilocos Sur governor, unseated Richard Fernandez as shooting association president.
Fernandez, a Vargas ally, denounced Chavit’s ascendancy as “a brazen takeover.”
Really? Why? How?
Monday, February 19, is supposedly the scheduled POC general assembly, which will reportedly set the parameters for the conduct of the February 23 election.
But the IOC-ordered POC polls appear vague somewhat as it did not categorically order the holding of the February 23 contest.
Many interpreted the IOC ruling as having clothed the general assembly with powers to have the final say on the conduct of the election.
In the not-so-distant past, the general assembly, sad to say, had been partial to Cojuangco.
What happens if the general assembly rules adversely against Vargas, leading, possibly, to an election with the cards heavily stacked against the boxing chief?
A comedy, if not a charade, is not far-fetched.
It will all depend on the general assembly.