REP. ABRAHAM “BAMBOL” TOLENTINO officially declared on Tuesday his intention to seek a full four-year term as president when the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) holds elections on November 27.
“I won’t deny it, definitely I will run for president,” Tolentino, a congressman from Cavite’s Eighth District, announced during the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) online Forum.
“I didn’t run for the presidency for the full term. I just ran to fill up the gap when Mr. [Ricky] Vargas resigned,” added the POC chief, also president of the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines (PhilCycling).
The filing of candidacies will start on October 1.
Tolentino beat athletics chief Dr. Philip Ella Juico by four votes, 24-20, in the special elections ordered by the International Olympic Committee July 28 last year after Vargas, head of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP), stepped down from his post.
His election meant serving the POC for only 16 months or not even half of the full four-year term allowed.
But Tolentino was able to right the ship when the Philippines dominated the 30th Southeast Asian Games the country hosted in December last year under his term.
“Not to brag about it, but you’ve seen what I was able to pull off—much more if it would be a complete term,” the POC head stressed.
“I was the sole author of 56 sports and how many events were on the SEA Games program, how I met one-on-one all NSAs [national sports associations],” he added. “So the question in the sports community is: Did I contribute anything? It’s for them to find out.”
Tolentino was later prodded to reveal two of his running mates—Al S. Panlilio of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas for first vice president, and Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez of modern pentathlon for second vice president.
Other than the two, Tolentino refused to name his complete ticket in the Forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Go For Gold, Milo, Amelie Hotel Manila, Braska Restaurant and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., with Upstream Media as official webcast partner and powered by Smart.
“That’s all I can reveal for now,” said the lawmaker, who expects a one-on-one battle for the presidency against archery’s Clint Aranas, the former Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) chairman, who declared his candidacy earlier.
The POC elections, Tolentino said, would be a face-to-face exercise unlike the POC General Assembly last month done through virtual meeting, its first during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We intend to hold the elections in a hotel ballroom or restaurant that, say, could accommodate 2,000. That way, we are not violating health protocols,” he said.
Under the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) guidelines for general modified community quarantine or modified community quarantine, gatherings are allowed provided the attendees do not exceed 30 percent of a venue’s full capacity.
Tolentino at the same time hailed President Duterte’s signing of the Bayanihan Act 2, which included a provision allocating P180 million funding for sports that would revert national athletes and coaches’ allowances to 100 percent and for the qualifiers and would-be qualifiers for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics.
“I initiated measures in Congress aimed at giving our national athletes and coaches their full allowances,” he said. “I was alarmed to learn about the allowance cut in July.”
The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) was forced to cut the national team members’ allowances in half starting July due to a depleted National Sports Development Fund (NSDF), the main source of funds for elite sports.
Pagcor is the principal contributor of the NSDF, but with casino operations shuttered, the gaming agency’s remittance to the PSC abruptly fell from an average of P120 million a month, the last coming in March, to a low P7 million a month in July.
“The athletes and coaches need to survive during the pandemic and their 100 percent allowances is the best the government can do during these difficult times,” Tolentino said.
The athletes and coaches are also entitled to P5,000 pandemic assistance each under the Bayanihan Act 2.
The national team in the PSC’s roster is 1,620-strong, broken down into 996 athletes, 262 coaches, 280 para athletes, and 82 para coaches.