Legal showdown looms next.
Tuluyan nang dudulog sa korte para makakuha ng Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) ang kampo ni Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) president Victorico ‘Ricky’ Vargas na pipigil sa itinakdang eleksiyon ng pribadong organisasyon na Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) sa Nob. 25.
Ito ang inihayag mismo ni Vargas, kasama ang abogado nitong si Atty. Jake Corporal at dating PBA commissioner Chito Salud sa ginanap na Kapihan sa Manila Bay sa Café Adriatico Miyerkules.
“We have 15-days to file for a TRO after receiving the decision,” sabi ni Corporal. “There is still time to get it as we received the decision November 4 and we have until November 19 to file before the Pasig Regional Trial Court.”
Matatandaan na unang diniskuwalipika ng binuong ng Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) na elections committee si Vargas para kumandidato bilang presidente ng pinakamataas na asosasyon sa sports dahil sa pagiging “inactive” at hindi pagdalo sa mga isinasagawang general assembly sa nakalipas na dalawang taon.
Ipinaliwanag naman ni Salud na isa sa mga puntong ilalaman sa pagkuha ng grupo ni Vargas ng TRO ay ang kongkretong kapaliwanagan sa salitang “inactive” na nakasaad sa POC Constitution and By-Law Article 7 Section 11 na lubhang napakalawak o “vague.”
“We are going to the court because of unfair application. We had no recourse but to challenge the decision in the proper court na. The issue is about this phrase in the By-Laws that says the president and the chairman to be elected by the voters must be active members of the general assembly. It is not active membership or active participation in their respective national sports association but in the general assembly,” sabi ni Corporal.
“We are relying here on somebody or other people’s memory or to a previous election held in that manner, which the POC election committee could not even explain,” sabi ni Corporal.
Hindi din inaalis ng grupo ni Vargas na tuluyang kausapin ang lahat ng mga national sports association (NSA’s) para madesisyunan ang kanyang apela na makatakbo sa labanan para sa pangulo ng POC o tuluyang ipaalam na sa Court of Arbitration in Sports ng International Olympic Committee (IOC) ang nagaganap sa asosasyon sa bansa.
“We have here now a sentiment that it has been 12 years now of leadership of Cojuangco, It looks that there is really a strongman in there that everybody is afraid of and that there was already a system that keeps them in their seat,” sabi pa ni Vargas. (Angie Oredo)
