Peping wants new Patafa elections

MANILA, Philippines - It may take a little while before the Philippine Olympic Committee recognizes Philip Juico as the new president of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association.

Jose Cojuangco, POC president, yesterday talked about the Patafa elections held last week when Juico, the former chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission, was elected president.

Cojuangco said Juico will have to call for another election – in the presence of a POC observer.

“Yes,” said the POC president when asked to clarify the need for a new election.

“That is needed (for Patafa) to comply with all the rules and regulations that all NSAs (national sports associations) follow,” Cojuangco said in a text message to The STAR.

The POC did not send a representative to the elections due to “procedural matters” the POC said Patafa had yet to comply with in accordance to and with the new IOC guidelines.

It deals mostly with the creation of a new constitution, a new set of by-laws and a new, updated list of stakeholders. The Patafa constitution dates back to the early 1990s.

But Juico said since the elections were all set and that representatives from the Asian Athletics Association and the Securities and Exchange Commission were already present they pushed through. 

“We decided to push through and comply later on. We will comply with all the requirements in the most appropriate manner,” said Juico.

“The agreement was nag-election sila and now the newly elected president whom we have not yet recognized promised to us that he will come up with all necessary requirement the POC and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) needs,” said Cojuangco.

“He (Juico) said he can do it. When he’s done that and all their constitution and by-laws and policies are in place they can already ask the POC to attend a new election,” Cojuangco explained.

There was quorum during the elections, with 25 of the 33 Patafa members present as well as AAA executive director Maurice Nicholas, who flew from Singapore, and the SEC officers.

The only thing that was missing was the POC observer.

Juico said he will sort things out with the POC as soon as possible because the longer the issue takes the greater the chance it might affect their preparations for the Asian Games in September.

He can ask the POC if there’s really a need to hold another election but in last Tuesday’s PSA Forum he said he has no plans of engaging the POC in a debate.

“We will sort them out. We want to work in harmony with the others. It will not do us any good if we have a running battle. Ang kalaban natin Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Brunei at Myanmar.

“We are competing with the world. Tayo ang magka-kampi,” said Juico.