Cojuangco to GA: Do what’s best for POC

Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco only has one bit of advice to the members of the General Assembly: Do what is right.

“Think hard and do what is best for the organization,” said Cojuangco yesterday, ahead of the extra-ordinary General Assembly scheduled on Feb. 19.

The International Olympic Committee ordered the POC to call for the GA in the hope of finding a solution to the leadership dispute that has hounded the local Oympic body for over a year now.

Cojuangco yesterday said in a radio interview that whatever the General Assembly decides should be followed and respected.

“Yes, of course. It’s the last authority of the POC,” Cojuangco told DZSR Sports Radio.

The POC executive committee will sit down on Feb. 15 and set the agenda for the General Assembly on Feb. 19. Whatever is decided upon will lead to the court-ordered elections for the positions of president and chairman on Feb. 23

Cojuangco said the IOC letter to the POC, dated Feb. 9 and signed by NOC (National Olympic Committee) relations director Pere Miro, will be dissected during the GA.

“We will read it thoroughly and try to understand,” said Cojuangco, whose victory in the Nov. 25, 2016 elections is being challenged by the group headed by boxing chief Ricky Vargas.

“That’s what the IOC wants – for us to go to our Constitution and follow it and find all means to solve the problem. So, it’s up to the General Assembly which action to take,” he added.

In its letter to the POC, the IOC said it was “very unfortunate” that the leadership issue within the POC reached the courts when it’s the General Assembly that should have decided on it.

The General Assembly may come to a vote on the issue of whether or not Vargas and cycling chief Rep. Abraham Tolentino, who is seeking the chairmanship of the POC, are “active members” of the POC.

The General Assembly can also vote to amend its Constitution in order to accommodate the ruling of the Pasig Regional Trial Court last December that Vargas and Tolentino should be allowed to run in the elections.