Peping must go

If these numbers reflecting the country’s dismal performance under Peping doesn’t appall you, we don’t know what will.

The embattled Philippine Olympic Committee will hold its elections today. No, let’s rephrase that: the POC was forced to hold elections today after the International Olympic Committee demanded that local officials resolve a leadership mess.

The impasse ensued after a regional court ruled as “null and void” the 2016 POC election that gave POC president Peping Cojuangco a fourth straight term. He ran unopposed in the 2016 elections after the POC disqualified Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines president Ricky Vargas over a flimsy technicality. Everyone, except Peping and his ilk, cried foul.

The court decision, in turn, prompted the IOC to step in. And rightly so. The POC’s 2016 machinations that kept Peping in power is nothing short of a disgrace. Of course, a handful have benefitted from the Cojuangco presidency, but as a whole, the country’s performance over the last 12 years in multi-event competitions, particularly the Olympic Games, the Asian Games, and the Southeast Asian Games, has been disastrous under Peping’s leadership.

If these numbers reflecting the country’s dismal performance under Peping doesn’t appall you, we don’t know what will:

*In the last three Olympics, the Philippines won just one Olympic medal, a silver in weightlifting at the 2016 Rio de Janiero Olympics.

*In the last three Asian Games, the Philippine medal tally has continually declined: from 19 medals in Doha 2006, to 16 in Guangzhou 2010, then to 15 in Incheon 2014. The gold and silver tallies follow the same pattern: from 4 to 3 to 1 and 6 to 4 to 2, respectively.

*In the last six Southeast Asian Games, except for the 2005 Philippine edition that gave the hosts the top spot, the country’s SEA Games performance has been depressing at best: fifth in 2009, seventh in 2013, and sixth in 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2017.

The country’s National Sports Associations aren’t exactly model groups with their own share of issues and scandals, but having a mother organization such as the POC that is as inept as its leadership is dysfunctional is an affront to Filipino athletes and the sports community. In today’s elections, Peping Cojuangco must be booted out of power. If not, Philippine sports will be the biggest loser. Five times over.

I could have gone for the corner but I decided to strike it harder instead of placing it. De Gea is a great goalkeeper and made a great save. LUIS MURIEL