Cycling dispute tackled after Guangzhou - Juico

MANILA, Philippines - Philip Juico, who now heads one of two factions within the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines, yesterday sat down with Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco, and they agreed that any leadership issue within Philcycling should be tackled after the Asian Games in November.

“I’m here as a problem solver and not a problem maker,” said Juico, the former chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission who was elected Philcycling president last Aug. 21 at Wack Wack.

While Juico is qualified for the position, being the head of the Roosevelt Cycling Club and board member of Philcycling, a requirement to make one eligible to run as president, the problem now lies in the fact that there’s another faction within Philcycling, the one headed by Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham Tolentino.

Juico stressed that he’s not here to create problems for the sport as it gears up for the Guangzhou Asian Games, but to help find a permanent solution to the leadership problem.

“There was a vacancy in the Philcycling board after one board member resigned. I was asked to fill the vacancy, and then was asked later on to fill in the presidency vacated by Mikee Romero who had resigned. I was elected and now I will serve his (Romero) unexpired term until 2010,” said Juico.

“It was an internal reorganization at Philcycling. But for the meantime, we are putting the leadership issue aside. And we will only tackle it right after the Asian Games,” he added.

The POC said it cannot recognize Juico’s group as the rightful representative of the country in the sport since Tolentino’s faction continues to enjoy the recognition of the Union Cycliste International (UCI), and called on both factions to come together and probably hold an election to be honored by the international federation.

But Juico told The STAR that an election “is not the only solution to the problem.”

He refused to elaborate, especially when asked about the possibility of a merger between the two factions, but added that “in this country of ours a lot of things can happen.”

“We should keep our eyes on the ball -- the Asian Games. We need a unified effort for the Asian Games, especially now that we are in some sort of a crisis (brought about by the Rizal Park hostage-taking),” added the former Agrarian Reforms secretary.

For the Asian Games, both sides signed a memorandum of agreement regarding the holding of a unified tryout, where the winning cyclists, regardless of which faction they’re in, will represent the country in Guangzhou.

Tolentino, however, said the agreement only covers the tryouts, and nothing regarding the leadership issue, not an election or anything else, as he maintained that his group is the one being recognized by the UCI.

Juico said setting the leadership issue aside will ensure that what happened in the 2009 Laos SEA Games won’t happen in Guangzhou. He recalled that in Laos, the 13 Filipino cyclists were barred from competing as a result of the issue.

“I will never allow that. What happened the last time will not happen again,” said Juico.