POC to discuss Philippine team participation in overseas games
THE Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) will discuss its participation in several international competitions when it holds a hybrid general assembly meeting on Jan. 12.
The POC will lay out its battle plans for the national team seeing action in competitions like Hanoi Southeast Asian Games in May and Hangzhou Asian Games in September among others.
The country also has an entry in skier Asa Miller in the Winter Olympics slated for Feb. 4-20 in Beijing, China and has plans on fielding in a squad in the World Games set on July 7-17 in Birmingham, USA.
The Filipinos will also participate in the Asian Youth Games unfurling Dec. 20 up to Dec. 28 in Shantou in Guangdong, China.
Also to be discussed is the 2024 Paris Olympics where the country hopes to strike a gold medal or two.
Interestingly, part of the agenda included a report by the Ethics Committee, which concluded its investigation on the impasse concerning Tokyo Olympian pole-vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena and the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA).
The probe resulted to the POC executive board declaring PATAFA President Philip Ella Juico as a persona non grata.
POC President Abraham Tolentino stressed they are just protecting the welfare of Mr. Obiena, whose national and Asian record of 5.93 meters was ranked as the third highest performance of 2021.
“If a president of a member NSA [national sports association] is not in one with the aim and purpose of the POC to protect and take care of the welfare of the athletes, then he or she does not deserve the recognition of POC… as simple as that,” said Mr. Tolentino.
“As far as the POC is concerned, the Ethics Committee acted within its inherent power which is to determine if the conduct of a member of POC, specifically the president of the PATAFA, is ethical, professional and acceptable to the organization which he belongs to,” he added. — Joey Villar
