Philippine Rugby body elects new president

MANILA, Philippines — Ada Milby will take over from Rick Santos as new president of the Philippine Rugby Football Union in an election done last Tuesday.

Milby was unanimously elected by 15 senior club and school representatives along with seven incumbent board of trustees after Santos served out his maximum term of eight straight years.

Santos though remained in the board as a secretary-general.

“Our first priority will be to restart activities when restrictions lift with player welfare and community safety as the primary focus,” said Milby. “We have a very robust ‘return of play’ protocol prepared in line with global best practices and IATF guidelines.

Milby said they hope to ride on the momentum of the sport’s success in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games where the country snared a gold and silver in Clark, Pampanga.

“I am also hopeful that we can resume national athlete training in 2021 as both our men’s and women’s teams are competing at the elite level of Asia Rugby in the 7s format,” said Milby.

“From the success of the gold and silver in the 2019 SEAG, we want to ensure that we don’t lose the forward momentum of those programs. It’s a challenging time for all sports in the Philippines and we’re very thankful for the continued support of the POC, PSC and all our sponsors and stakeholders,” she added.