Abraham Tolentino to run for POC top post, pleased with restoration of athlete's allowances

After steering the Philippine Olympic Committee back on track after three years of leadership crisis, Tagaytay legislator Abraham Tolentino is making his intentions to run for a new term crystal clear in the upcoming elections two months from now.
“Hindi naman natin tinatago. Definitely, I will run for president,” said the head of the country's cycling federation in Tuesday's online edition of the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum.

He, along with other prospective candidates, will officially file their candidacies on October 1.

The crisis started in 2016 when the controversial Peping Cojuangco won his unprecedented fourth term as POC President, disqualifying boxing's Ricky Vargas in an election that was declared null and void by the courts, paving the way for the special elections two years later in which the latter won convincingly, with Tolentino sworn in as chairman.

Vargas himself stepped down in 2019, and the cycling chief won a close special election over athletic's boss Philip Ella Juico to serve the remainder of the tenure.

“Hindi naman full term yung tinakbuhan ko. I just ran to fill up the gap when Mr. (Ricky) Vargas resigned,” he then said.

A veteran of various sporting posts, Tolentino steered the POC in its biggest task before the Olympics, including the country's dominating performance on its own Southeast Asian Games.

“Hindi naman sa nagbubuhat ng bangko pero nakita ninyo naman ang nagawa natin. Much more if it would be a complete term,” he stressed.

In such a short time, it generated its efforts in all aspects, shrugging off his detractors along the way.

“I was the sole author of 56 sports and how many events in the Southeast Asian Games, kung paano ako nakipag-one-on-one sa mga NSA (National Sports Associations),” Tolentino added. “So sa sports community ang tanong, 'May nai-contribute ba ako?' It’s for them to find out.”

He will not be all alone on his quest, as he had revealed his first two running-mates in his slate, entrusting Al Panlilio of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and modern pentathlon's Richard Gomez to be his two vice presidents.

Tolentino is also expected to face off against archery's Clint Aranas in the polls that were scheduled on November 27.

Unlike the General Assembly which was done online, the elections will be held on an in person basis wherein Tolentino bares his plans to make it in line with the guidelines set by the government due to the coronavirus pandemic that is still in the country as of the moment.

The said protocols state that the gatherings will only be allowed provided that the attendance will only constitute the maximum 30% of the venue's capacity.

“We intend to hold the elections in a hotel ballroom or restaurant that, say, could accommodate 2,000. That way, we are not violating health protocols,” he said afterwards.

Apart from the elections, Tolentino was pleased that the government has approved the signing of the Bayanihan Act 2, in which it allocated ₱180 million for the full restoration of the athlete's allowances, in which it was cut to half by the Philippine Sports Commission by July.

“The athletes and coaches need to survive during the pandemic and their 100-percent allowances is the best the government can do during these difficult times,”  he then said, as he sounded the alarm on the said slashing of funding two months ago, initiating the measures on the Congress floor that led to its full restoration of financial aid.

The reduction was caused by the depletion of the National Sports Development Fund wherein the remittances by the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corporation dropped to as low as ₱7 million, a far cry from the monthly average of ₱120 million due to the pandemic that caused the shutdown of casino operations.

FILE PHOTO: Philippine Sportswriters Association