Peping reelected in disputed poll

MANILA, Philippines — Former Tarlac Rep. Jose Cojuangco, Jr. was reelected president of the Equestrian Association of the Philippines (EAP) and his daughter Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski, an IOC member, was voted vice president in a disputed poll held at the Executive Lounge of the Jose Cojuangco Building in Makati last Thursday with POC deputy secretary-general Karen Caballero as observer.

The day after, a letter was filed before the POC by Carissa Coscolluela, Marivi Camcam, Toni Leviste and Joker Arroyo advising of an official protest of the election with notification to Federation Equestre Internationale president Ingmar de Vos and National Federation liaison officer Lucinda Arsenio.

“The election was conducted in clear violation of the By-Laws of the EAP which stipulate that all members are entitled to vote,” said Coscolluela who has challenged Cojuangco’s leadership since 2009. “It is a right, not a privilege, that cannot be withdrawn or arbitrarily removed by the Board. The EAP prevented associate members from voting. It was a deprivation of their right to the point of disenfranchisement.”

Coscolluella, a former party list Representative, said the By-Laws make no distinction between regular and associate members. “There are no amendments to that effect so there is no basis to disallow certain members to vote,” she said. “Further, not all members received proper notice of the meeting, rendering the entire (election process) defective.”

Coscolluela pointed out that the By-Laws allow the Board to determine qualifications of members, not their rights. “The By-Laws also do not allow the Board to create different classifications of memberships with a selective allocation of rights,” she noted. “A rule created by the Board cannot amend the By-Laws.”

Coscolluela attended the meeting and held proxies of Arroyo, Leviste and Mitos Belofsky. Lara Zobel and Camcam also showed up but were prevented from voting under a rule of a one-year probation. Other members who were barred from participating in the poll were Nina Huang, Yvette Lopez, Steve Todd, Vanna Severino and Trisha Ocampo. “You pay the dues for a regular member but only get part of the rights and privileges,” she said. “How unfair is that? Here’s the funny thing. The Board has a rule that a rider must compete in a certain number of EAP competitions a year to qualify as a regular member but how can anyone comply with that when there are no EAP competitions at all?”

Coscolluela said she abstained from the poll because the process was defective and therefore, invalid. “The only members who were allowed to vote were what they call regular members, a whopping 21 people,” she said. “One, Jones Lanza, was not even served notice properly. Becca Dosch lives in Tennessee and hardly comes to the Philippines.”

Caballero said she will report to POC president Ricky Vargas, secretary-general Patrick Gregorio, the membership committee and the POC Board on her observations of the elections. “I came in as an observer and not of authority to stop and/or interfere with the election procedure,” she said. “I merely recorded and took down my observations to report back to the POC. We’ve received the statement of Ms. Coscolluela and Mr. Vargas has instructed us to review carefully and thoroughly what happened in the election.”

There were seven candidates in the poll and they were elected by 14 of 21 accredited voters with five abstentions and two absences. Aside from Cojuangco and Jaworski, other elected officials were Janine Felix as treasurer, Karen Concepcion as secretary-general, Gaby Herbosa as trustee, Nikki Aboitiz as trustee and Martin Lorenzo as trustee.