Threat of IOC suspension real?

MANILA, Philippines - IOC honorary member and POC Comelec chairman Francisco Elizalde said yesterday if the situation surrounding the Nov. 25 polls turns ugly and smacks of government intervention, the IOC could swoop down to suspend the Philippines of participation in Olympic events and strip the country of benefits from the Olympic Solidarity and other assistance programs.

“If because of government intervention, the POC becomes paralyzed from functioning as it should, then the threat of suspension is real,” said Elizalde. “But a suspension isn’t something that will happen right away. There is a process to follow. First, the IOC will investigate the matter. In our case, nobody can prevent anyone from going to court because we live in a democracy. But I think the proper thing to do is to settle a dispute before the POC internally and if that doesn’t prosper, then the issue can be elevated to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. I know of cases that were even filed in the civil courts in Switzerland.”

Elizalde said a dispute concerning a National Olympic Committee such as the POC falls under the IOC’s Department of NOC Relations. He was in Lausanne for a few days early this week to attend an IOC meeting and said it had nothing to do with the POC. “I serve in the IOC Ethics Committee which looks into acts of particular individuals,” he said. “I know the IOC monitors the developments of every NOC – there are about 205 so it’s likely they know more about what’s going on in the POC than even me. But no, I didn’t take up anything about the POC during my meeting in Lausanne.”

  What appeared to bother Elizalde was the possibility of the Senate calling a hearing to look into POC affairs, particularly the disqualification of certain candidates for the coming elections. “That could be a dangerous direction,” he said. “It may be construed as direct government interference.”

Elizalde said the POC Comelec will convene on Monday to take up the motion of Philippine Football Federation president Mariano Araneta to disqualify reelectionist candidate Jose Cojuangco Jr. as president and reelectionist candidate Joey Romasanta as first vice president. “I’m just a soldier of the law,” he said. “I follow what’s in the statutes. I’m no cohort of anyone. I follow my conscience. I don’t owe anything to anyone. If I owed something to someone, that someone would probably be dead by now (because of my age 84). It would be easy for us to let Mr. (Ricky) Vargas run for president but that’s not the way to do things right. There are qualifying rules. If the rules are changed, then we’ll reevaluate every candidate’s qualifications. I know there are term and age limits for positions in the IOC but there are none in the POC. That’s the fact. If there are term and age limits in the POC Constitution and By-Laws, then, we’ll abide by those rules. We’ll go by what the rules stipulate, nothing more, nothing less. The rule on active membership was ratified during Cito Dayrit’s term as POC president because the consensus was it wouldn’t be right for anyone to just come out of nowhere to run for POC chairman or president and win with political or whatever clout. That rule was approved by the General Assembly and cleared with the SEC and IOC. That’s been the rule for years so it’s not like anything new.”

In an earlier ruling, the POC Comelec disqualified Vargas as candidate for president and Tom Carrasco and Rep. Abraham Tolentino as candidates for chairman. Vargas and Tolentino were struck out for failure to comply with the qualifying requirement of “active membership” in the POC General Assembly while Carrasco was dropped because he is no longer president of an NSA of an Olympic sport.

Lawyers of Vargas and Tolentino are set to seek redress from the court. The expectation is a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) will be issued on or before Nov. 19.

Elizalde said he will consult POC legal counsel Ramon Malinao on whether the Nov. 25 elections could push through even with a TRO. The presumption is the TRO will question only the disqualification of Vargas and Tolentino, not the conduct of the polls. To respect the TRO, the POC Comelec could lift the disqualification of Vargas and Tolentino on an interim basis and allow them to run in the elections. If later the courts uphold the disqualification, then their votes in the polls will be nullified.

Elizalde said as there are now no candidates for chairman, the POC Comelec may call for a special election to fill the position at a date later than Nov. 25. It’s also possible to delay the Nov. 25 elections for a few weeks to synchronize the entire process. Elizalde said he will check on the legalities of the options available in light of the prevailing circumstances.

The controversy hounding the POC elections comes at the heels of an overhaul of the Hungarian Olympic Committee instigated by Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest last Tuesday. Budapest is bidding to host the 2024 Olympics and the Hungarian Olympic Committee has come under fire for poor performance. How the IOC will react to this development is being anticipated. In 2012, the IOC suspended the India Olympic Committee for poll irregularities and lifted the ban two years later when fair elections were held. Last year, the IOC suspended the Kuwait Olympic Committee for government interference. Kuwait officials are now barred from attending IOC events and IOC assistance to the national committee has stopped. Kuwait athletes competed in the Rio Olympics under the IOC banner. It would be a bitter blow to the country if the IOC suspends the Philippines because of government intervention stemming from a POC election dispute.