By Nick Giongco
Asian Games chief of mission Richard Gomez insisted yesterday that the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) has no other choice but to fund whoever the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) deems fit to compete in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.
“I set the criteria. As (the new) CDM, I created the new criteria,” Gomez said during a break the POC General Assembly at the Meralco complex in Pasig in reference to questions relative to the inclusion of the women’s volleyball team to the Aug. 18-Sept. 2 sportsfest in the cities of Jakarta and Palembang.
Gomez, a former actor and current Leyte mayor, was tapped to replace wushu’s Julian Camacho early this year following the change of leadership in the POC.
“I really wish that Mr. Ramon Fernandez will know that there is a new CDM and it’s no longer Mr. Camacho. They cannot be selective and they should fund as a whole.”
Camacho and his working group had earlier passed criteria that would only allow athletes or team sports with genuine chances of winning a medal to be included on the delegation, stressing that the quadrennial event is not meant to be an opportunity for sheer exposure.
Gomez said the PSC’s only role is to fund, nothing more.
“That is their mandate. PSC cannot dictate who to send who not to send,” he said.
