Joey says speaking out isn’t rebelling

POC first vice president Joey Romasanta said yesterday the recent gathering of 18 NSAs to sort out the problems that beset Philippine sports is a positive sign as he welcomed constructive interaction which could be the highlight of the General Assembly meeting at the Century Park Sheraton Hotel this afternoon. “I told Cong. Peping (POC president Jo s e Co j u a n g c o , Jr. ) sp e a k i n g ou t or disagreeing isn’t rebelling,” said Romasanta. “It’s a healthy process. Everyone should be able to speak his or her mind. We should be open to constructive criticism as part of any organization and it’s incumbent for the leadership to address issues. Criticism shouldn’t be destructive or disuniting. Listening to both sides is important. What’s critical is to prioritize issues because we might be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the different problems. Every NSA has the right to be heard.” Romasanta said the General Assembly will be convened at 2 p.m. A first Friday Holy Mass will be celebrated after the meeting then Philippine Airlines will host a thanksgiving dinner. He said he expects NSA officials who attended the recent Group of 18 meeting to speak up during the open forum. Romasanta said it was his initiative to form a group of young NSA officials to prepare for the next generation of POC leadership. “After the elections last year, I reached out to several NSAs,” he said. “This is my last term in the POC and all I want is to see a better-prepared POC for the future. I challenged the NSAs to be more participative. I called on the leaders of shooting, rugby, squash, sepak takraw and canoe kayak. At first, they wanted me to join the group as an adviser but I declined as I didn’t want to influence the direction of the group in any way. There was speculation that I was laying the foundation for my campaign in the next POC elections. This is ridiculous. In Cong. Peping’s first two terms, I never ran for office. I finally ran on his third term because I felt I could bridge the transition for change. I’ll always be a subordinate.”

Romasanta said from the initial group of six, more NSAs joined to bring it up to at least 18. “No change is easy,” he said. “But if everyone is united in doing the right things, we can accomplish a lot. There are many issues to address, including improving relations with the PSC. This group of 18 is looking at issues. Wala silang binabatikos. The only thing I can’t understand is the suggestion for all the POC elected officials to resign. Why should we all resign? Are we at fault for what happened in the SEA Games? In fact, the POC is still waiting for the final report on the SEA Games. I’d like to find out how we made the estimate of over 60 gold medals, why we failed and what did we learn from the experience. The report on the recent Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Turkmenistan will be submitted this week and that competition was held after the SEA Games.”

Romasanta, the NSA president for karate, said the performance in Turkmenistan was a result of a focused effort. “There will be a lot of gold medals at stake in martial arts at the Asian Games next year,” he said. “We challenged the medal-rich sports to step up. We wanted to stir them up to prepare for the Asian Games. Whatever medal deficiencies in swimming, shooting or athletics, we’ll try to make up in martial arts.”

In Turkmenistan, the Philippines bagged two gold medals in jiu-jitsu. The harvest also included 14 silvers and 14 bronzes. In contrast, the haul was only a gold and two bronzes at the 2013 edition in Incheon. At the Asian Games in Indonesia, nine gold medals will be on the line in jiu-jitsu. Other combat sports in the calendar are kurash (8 gold medals), pencak silat (16), sambo (6), wushu (15), boxing (13), taekwondo (12), judo (15), karate (13) and wrestling (18).