By NICK GIONGCO
The threat of the Philippines being suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is real, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Jose ‘Peping’ Cojuangco said yesterday.
That grim scenario could take place given the situation locally after a Pasig court recently ordered the POC to hold an election for the positions of president and chairman after ruling the elections held in November 2016 as null and void.
“There is a real threat that we get suspended by the IOC,” said Cojuangco on the ruling favoring boxing head Ricky Vargas, who was ruled ineligible to run against Cojuangco by the POC screening committee.
The court has ordered the POC to hold an election next month and Cojuangco has asked his lawyers to study their options.
But Cojuangco warns that the court’s intervention in POC affairs could compel the IOC to look into the matter, stressing that the IOC had acted on similar situations involving India and Kuwait.
“The case we have right now is very much like these countries…leadership problems,” said Cojuangco.
Cojuangco said that in the last conventions hosted by the Association of National Olympic Committees (Anoc), NOC leaders like him have been briefed and advised about the delicate matter of government intervention.
“It’s the autonomy (of the NOC) that is being talked about here,” said Cojuangco, who won his fourth term as POC head when Vargas wasn’t allowed to run owing to a technicality.
Cojuangco believes that while Vargas appears to be a favorite, he doesn’t have the time to run the POC affairs on a daily basis like he does.
“Me? This is the only thing that occupies me every day and I put my 100 percent into this,” said the 81-year-old Cojuangco.