No elections for new officials of the Philippine Olympic Committe will happen this week.
Instead, the members of the executive board of the Philippine Olympic Committee will have to apprise the International Olympic Committee and Olympic Council of Asia of their current situation.
James MacLeod, the IOC director for Olympic Solidarity and National Olympic Committee Relations, ordered this in a letter that was sent to the POC Executive Board.
OCA Director and Technical Director Husain Al-Musallam co-signed the letter with MacLeod, dated June 29.
The two officials from the IOC and the OCA said they need to know who has given up their positions from within the POC following the resignation of Ricky Vargas as president last month.
“We sincerely hope that the current situation can be clarified and rectified,” said MacLeod and Al-Musallam in a joint two-page letter that was sent to the Executive Board, which held at a special meeting yesterday at the GSIS offices in Pasay City.
POC legal counsel and acting secretary general Charlie Ho explained that so far, only acting president Joey Romasanta of volleyball, board member Cynthia Carrion of gymnastics and spokesman Clint Aranas of archery have submitted official letters of resignation.
The resignations were submitted to the executive board, after POC Chairman Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, who heads the national sports association of cycling, made a call for POC officials to quit their post last week, and hold elections on July 5.
“The past few weeks and months have been very turbulent for the NOC in the Philippines. And the IOC and and the OCA has taken notice of what is happening with serious and great concern,” said Ho, who spoke on behalf of the executive board.
The POC, according to the IOC and the OCA, is not to take any more unilateral actions without consultations with the IOC, which are both monitoring events in the country.
IOC and OCA officials also asked the POC to convene an Extraordinary General Assembly to address the current situation.
In that meeting, the General Assembly needs to decide on what vacancies need to be filled up in accordance with the POC constitution and bylaws.
From there, the IOC and the OCA will send an observer to witness the General Assembly's efforts “to decide on the next step, and to resolve any issues prevailing at the level of the executive board.”
“The IOC and the OCA have instructed the executive board to formalize the vacancies and positions in the executive board. The IOC (and the OCA) will only accept written and expressed resignations,” added Ho.
Ho said the executive board will now need the written resignations of Tolentino and other board members on or before Friday, July 5.
“That has to be complied with, for the elections to be valid,” added Ho.
Since no one has replaced Romasanta, he remains as acting president until elections are held.
Around nine members of the board were present during the meeting, with Tolentino and Aranas absent.
The IOC and OCA warned that failure to follow due process on the POC's part will result in sanctions.
In the letter, IOC and OCA officials said the recurrent disputes in the POC have affected the POC's reputation.
“The recurrent internal and personal disputes have been affecting the POC's reputation in the country and internationally, and have also created a very unstable situation, which has a negative impact on the Olympic Movement as a whole in the country,” stated the officials in their letter.
