POC, PSC officials renew ties

Top officials of the Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Sport Commission sat down the other day and vowed to strengthen their partnership aimed at producing better results for the country in major international competitions.

The meeting was held at the POC office in Pasig and lasted more than three hours.

“It was a fruitful meeting. It was a healthy meeting,” said POC president Jose Cojuangco, who was joined by POC chairman Tom Carrasco and vice president Jose Romasanta.

“It was a sincere and honest conversation among us. We all agreed that a clear policy and partnership are vital for our athletes and our country,” said PSC chairman William Ramirez, who came with his four commissioners.

The sports officials also agreed to set aside any differences in opinion or policies and vowed to keep the communication lines open.

“We told ourselves that we should not succumb to those trying to project that there is animosity among us. We all agreed to communicate,” said Romasanta.

“It was more of a collaborative meeting, and we all agreed to not talk and discuss issues in the newspapers. We are just a phone call away from each other,” he said.

The 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia was on the table, and the officials agreed to leave no stone unturned in preparing the athletes for the biennial event.

In 2015 SEA Games in Singapore, the Philippines finished sixth overall. The country must do better than that next year as it prepares to host the SEA Games in 2019.

“While everybody is looking toward the 2020 Tokyo Olympics let us prepare for the coming SEA Games the way the others are preparing,” said Romasanta.

The POC vice president said athletes and officials should stop looking at the SEA Games as the lowest level of international competition.

“We have to take the SEA Games seriously because that’s what the others are doing. We must look at it and prepare for it in the Asian level,” said Romasanta.

This early, Cojuangco has called on the NSAs ( national sports associations) that will be represented in the next SEA Games to start screening their athletes for the competition.

He asked the NSAs to provide the POC with the list of names to be considered.

“Then we wi l l plan the preparation. It will be completely planned. The NSAs must take this coming SEA Games very seriously,” said Cojuangco.

Ramirez vowed to provide all the support for the national athletes, beginning with the 2017 SEA Games leading to the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and the 2020 Oympics in Tokyo.

“We are all looking forward,” he said.