PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee President Jose Cojuangco Jr. continued to believe the country could still top the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games but, at the same time, made a combative stance against the current Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) administration that is running after delinquent national sports associations (NSAs).
Cojuangco told Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the Golden Phoenix Hotel in Pasay City that special training of a select group of athletes could win for the Philippines this August’s 29th SEA Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur.
“If we can start implementing what we’ve put together, it’s not very far to be No. 1,” said Cojuangco, who was joined in the forum—presented by San Miguel Corp., Golden Phoenix Hotel, Accel and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.—by POC Vice President Jose Romasanta, Chief of Mission Cynthia Carrion, SEA Games Task Force Head Tom Carrasco, former taekwondo champion Rep. Monsour del Rosario and karatedo’s Raymond Lee Reyes.
“We did that before,” said Cojuangco, referring to the 2005 edition that the country hosted and dominated.
Cojuangco, however, do not see the PSC, the government arm for sports that funds practically all of Philippine amateur sports, as an ally.
The fourth-term POC head said the PSC is intervening with the administration of national athletes, adding that the agency “wants to take over sports”.
PSC Chairman William Ramirez declared a “no liquidation, no funding” policy on NSAs, which have to account for the financial assistance they received from the government.
Rapport has no room between Cojuangco and Ramirez, even during the former Tarlac governor’s first term as POC head from 2004 to 2008, when the former educator from Davao was also PSC chief under then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term.
But Cojuangco forged a harmonious relationship with the PSC with Ricardo Garcia, who served six years as agency chairman during the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III. Garcia is a known ally of Cojuangco.