Will POC Executive Board meet or not?

MANILA, Philippines — There is a brewing controversy involving the POC and it has to do with whether the Executive Board will meet on Monday, as called by POC president Ricky Vargas and secretary-general Patrick Gregorio, or on Tuesday as requested by member Clint Aranas.  The Board is supposed to convene monthly and Gregorio has issued a circular setting the meeting on Monday afternoon at the Kalayaan Hall of SM Aura in Taguig.

Before Vargas convenes the Executive Board, PHISGOC chairman Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano will preside in a no-holds-barred meeting with POC and NSA officials at the same Kalayaan Hall on Monday morning.  He promised to thresh out whatever concerns there are regarding the relationship between POC and PHISGOC.  At least seven members of the 15-strong Executive Board signed a document questioning the propriety of the POC yielding authority to PHISGOC in supervising the coming SEA Games.

Vargas planned to call the Executive Board to a meeting after lunch on Monday when Cayetano will have finished the get-together with the POC and NSA officials.  POC communications director Ed Picson said the Executive Board meeting will be for members only.

Aranas, the archery NSA president, asked for the Executive Board to meet on Tuesday so as not to involve non-members who will attend Cayetano’s meeting in the morning.  Gregorio’s circular to set the meeting on Monday came after Aranas’ request.  POC auditor Jonne Go, an Executive Board member, pointed out that Gregorio’s call for a meeting did not specify an agenda.

An Executive Board meeting not called or attended by Vargas will be considered as unauthorized.  Members of the Executive Board who signed the document questioning Vargas on issues related to PHISGOC were first vice president Joey Romasanta, second vice president Tony Tamayo, treasurer Julian Camacho, Go, IOC member Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski and former POC president Jose Cojuangco Jr.  Other Executive Board members known to support the raising of issues are Rep. Butch Pichay and Robert Mananquil.

PSC chairman and SEA Games chef de mission Butch Ramirez called for a meeting with POC and NSA officials at the PICC last week, hoping to mend fences that were left in disarray after a tumultuous POC General Assembly gathering the week before.  At the PICC, Vargas sought out his adversaries and shook hands in the spirit of unity to close ranks in guaranteeing the successful staging of the SEA Games.  Cojuangco and Romasanta, however, did not attend the PICC meeting.

With the numbers favoring Vargas’ oppositors in the Executive Board, it will be difficult for the incumbent president to secure approval for his resolutions.  If resolutions are at an impasse at the Executive Board level, the alternative is to seek passage from the General Assembly. If the Executive Board commits to locking arms in the national interest and setting aside political differences, there should be no issue moving forward.  But if the schedule of when to hold the Executive Board meeting is an issue in itself, the signs are ominous of a rocky road to the SEA Games.