Battle lines drawn

POC president Ricky Vargas took off the kid gloves at the General Assembly meeting in Max’s Restaurant on Capitol Drive, Pasig, last Monday morning and came out swinging in serving notice to antagonistic elements out to discredit his leadership that he’s done with pussyfooting.

Vargas aimed his cannons at the seven POC Executive Board members who were signatories to an April 30 letter demanding a reply within five days of notice, in writing, to issues related to the formation of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC). Vargas ignored the ultimatum and instead, circulated a paper detailing his response during the meeting. The response was drafted by POC general counsel Atty. Al Agra.

After delivering a strongly-worded speech aimed at his detractors, Vargas returned to his seat and POC chairman Rep. Abraham (Bambol) Tolentino banged the gavel to adjourn on a motion from the floor, duly seconded. Those who were singled out for attempting to destabilize the POC rushed to the microphone but the sound system had been shut off. It was reminiscent of a General Assembly meeting in Wack Wack last year when then-POC president Jose Cojuangco Jr. called for an adjournment, even without a motion on the floor, to silence ABAP secretary-general Ed Picson from questioning a decision to disregard a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the Court of Appeals in ordering a re-election to allow two disqualified candidates to run.

Tolentino said he adjourned the meeting “to protect” the POC presidency. “What I did was a legal procedure,” he said. “There was a motion on the floor to adjourn. It was seconded. And by the power of the gavel, I decided to postpone going through the agenda and adjourn. It had become too emotional. There would have been a heated debate with no resolution.” The violent reaction from certain NSA quarters either alluded to or singled out was sadly inevitable. Luckily, no national athlete was around to witness the display of crass behavior. It was an ugly sight.  A lot of sportsmen lost their dignity that day. Vargas himself resorted to harsh words in his speech and maybe, he felt it was the only kind of language his adversaries understand.

Vargas, a respected corporate executive with a checkered history of professional success, said it’s not in his DNA to work in a politically-charged environment. But he was compelled to act because “I was insulted, vilified and demeaned through insinuation, innuendo and downright misrepresentation of facts.” Vargas said he reached out to the vanguards of the previous administration after his election, hoping friendship and diplomacy would heal old wounds. It didn’t work. “The reality is this Executive Board, save for one or two outside the chairman and secretary-general, have remained steadfast in their old political ways and would have made me a lame duck and a puppet,” he said. “This is unacceptable to me. This was not what I signed up for nor what I was elected to be.”

Vargas said since his assumption into office last year, the POC has achieved enormous gains, including raising P46 million from the private sector, high-level performance in several international competitions and a stamp of good governance. “I will not allow the POC to be dragged down by the very people who caused the miserable performance of Team Philippines in the recent past,” he said. “I will not allow people who have mismanaged POC for more than a decade to throw us back to the dark ages.”

Cojuangco said he took exception to Vargas’ tirade of his administration. “In 2005, we hosted the SEA Games with a miniscule budget of P638 million, now the budget is P7 billion,” he said. “During my time, the IOC cited POC for the success of the SEA Games. What this new administration has done is to destroy our institution.” POC auditor Jonne Go said it was unfair to end the meeting without a response from those whom Vargas accused of wrong-doing. Squash NSA president Bob Bachmann, who was removed as chairman of the POC membership committee, confronted Vargas for “destroying my name” and pointed an accusing finger at the POC president.

 Vargas said newly-elected Rep. and PHISGOC chairman Alan Peter Cayetano will meet the POC Executive Board and all NSA presidents on June 10 to address every concern related to the hosting of the SEA Games. If sentiments weren’t aired last Monday, there will be a platform for that on June 10. It’s not too late to mend fences, join hands and come together in the spirit of national unity.

Vargas said the Southeast Asian Games Federation is aware of what’s going on in the POC and it’s an embarrassment. Instead of working in harmony to make sure the staging of the SEA Games is a success, factions within the POC family are fighting, strategizing for power and claiming authority. Vargas’ grandfather Jorge Vargas, the first Filipino IOC member and founding father of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (now POC), must be turning in his grave.