IF it were a road race in cycling, the route toward the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) elections reached the crucial final 3 kilometers with incumbent president Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and archery association head Jesus Clint Aranas bracing for a potential sprint finish on November 27.
And so on Saturday morning, Tolentino, who heads the national sports association for cycling PhilCycling, made the jump by announcing his team for the elections that could go down as one of the most thrilling political exercise in the POC’s history.
Tolentino’s lineup? Triathlon’s Tom Carrasco for chairman, gymnastics’ Cynthia Carrion for treasurer and baseball’s Chito Loyzaga for auditor. They will join basketball’s Al Panlilio (first vice president) and fencing and modern pentathlon’s Richard Gomez (second vice president), who the Cavite (District 8) congressman bared on Tuesday.
Completing the team are muay’s Pearl Managuelod, judo’s Dave Carter, chess’s Prospero Pichay and surfing’s Jose Raul Canlas.
Tolentino told an online news conference on Saturday that his ticket represents trust, good governance and performance based.
“This is a ticket that is known for good governance and a trusted team in the sports community and private business sector,” Tolentino said. “It’s important to have trust.”
Aranas, a current member of the POC executive board, bared on Wednesday his partial ticket composed of handball’s Steve Hontiveros for chairman, athletics’s Philip Ella Juico for first vice president and rugby’s Ada Milby as his team’s adopted candidate for second vice president.
Milby earlier declared she is running as an independent.
Tolentino was elected president in the second of two special POC elections ordered by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in July last year, beating Juico by four votes, 24-20. In the first IOC-ordered elections in February, Vargas defeated three-term president Jose Cojuangco Jr.
A total of 51 NSAs are participating in the elections face-to-face elections tentatively at the cavernous East Ocean Palace in Paranaque City. The filing of candidacies start on October 1 and ends on October 31.
Image credits: Roy Domingo