“Right now, the head of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and that of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) are politicians. Politics is what has caused all our problems in sports.”
by Ducky Paredes
By definition, politicians are not sportsmen. The attitude of the true sportsman incorporates sportsmanship as a sine qua non. Without sportsmanship, one cannot be a sportsman. What is sportsmanship? One definition is that it is “an attitude that strives for fair play, courtesy toward teammates and opponents, ethical behavior and integrity, and grace in victory or defeat.”
We all know that our politicians never accept defeat and fair play, ethical behavior and integrity are the farthest things from their nature; they will, instead, do anything – including cheating, to win.
Sportsmanship embraces the idea that sports is enjoyed for its own sake. Sports journalist Grantland Rice’s take is that it’s “not that you won or lost but how you played the game;” and Modern Olympic founder Pierre de Coubertin said: “The most important thing . . . is not winning but taking part.”
In the Philippines, there have been many athletes and sportsmen (many former Olympians) who have tried their hand at running National Sports Associations (NSA); they have mostly given up. The politics, the total lack of basic sportsmanship – playing by the rules, fair play, courtesy, basic love for sports and everything that makes sports a worthwhile activity – among the politicos who run NSAs, as if they were their personal fiefdoms, turn these real sportsmen off.
Politicos should be barred from taking any leadership positions in sports. Right now, the head of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and that of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) are both former congressmen – hardcore tradpols.
Politics is what has caused all our problems in sports. For instance, we were unable to compete in basketball in the last SEA Games because the POC did not recognize the NSA that was accredited by FIBA — the international Basketball Association. Because the POC chairman wanted his own set of cronies in control of basketball, we were banned from fielding a basketball team in that edition of the games.
(That problem has been solved primarily because Pinoy Taipan Manny Pangilinan, who is simply too big for any of the politicos to handle, took over the new NSA, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, which took over from the Basketball Association of the Philippines.
What is the relationship of the NSAs to the POC and to the IOC?
National Sports Associations (NSAs) are private, non-profit organizations, recognized as the governing body of their sport by the POC. NSAs are responsible for the promotion of their sport: the recruitment, training and selection of athletes, licensing of coaches and officials, and organization of competitions. NSAs are also responsible for determining the composition of their respective teams in all international competition. They are also exclusively responsible for the participation of their teams in various competitions. However, when it comes to multi-sports games such as the Olympics, Asian or SEA Games, the NOC has the prerogative and authority to approve the team recommended by the NSAs.
The NSAs are governed by their own Constitution and By-laws and elect their own officers. There must be only one NSA per sport in the country; but, in order for the NSA to compete in Olympic sports internationally, the NSA must be accredited by the ISF. The POC must recognize the NSA recognized by the ISF. It is not the other way around. The ISF recognizes the NSA before the POC does. If the POC wants to enter athletes for competition in IOC-sanctioned activities, the particular ISF-approved NSA must license the athletes!
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is the ISF for cycling and the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines (PhilCycling) of which Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino (also Mayor of Tagaytay) is the President is the NSA recognized by the UCI.
Sometime in May, the POC, citing a leadership question in the NSA, called for an election for Philcycling. This election was not allowed by the UCI. Still, the POC went ahead with the election and elected someone from Chicago, Rolando Hiso, as President.
But, the UCI, which grants licenses to cyclists competing in IOC events such as the SEA Games, still recognizes Tolentino as president of the Philippines’ NSA for cycling.
However, the POC now recognizes Mikee Romero, a businessman and deep pockets sponsor, who withdrew from the illegal POC-sponsored election as the PhilCycling president.
UCI President Pat McQuaid wrote the POC: “As you are all aware, the UCI and the ACC (Asian Cycling Confederation) recognize the PhilCycling of which Mr. Tolentino was elected president on 16 June 2009.”
Still, the POC sent a team of cyclists to the SEA Games in Laos without licenses issued by Tolentino, which is the only license recognized for the Philippines by the UCI and the SEA Games.
This was a stupid move on the part of the POC. Even before the team arrived in Vientiane, the cyclists were already told that they could not compete. Only one rider had the proper license; she also had the best chance to win all three gold medals that the Philippines was hoping for in cycling.
Yet, when the other cyclists were banned from competing because of our internally created, politically inspired and self-generated problems, even the one cyclist who had the best chance of winning gold in three events was cajoled into not competing.
Who is to blame for this stupid situation that the country finds itself in? The POC Chair says Tolentino is to blame. That proves the point. Who is to blame? Of course, the politicians, who else? If the politicians were not allowed to take positions in organizations that, by the Olympic code, are private, nongovernmental and non-political, we would not be getting into messes like these.
We need sportsmen who love sports to run our sports programs not politicos whose main drive is to accumulate personal political power, even in sports, which only works well when freed from all politics. As long as politicos rule Philippine sports, we will never get anywhere in sports.
Look at football. Pinoys have the right size and mindset for it, but how can we improve in the sport when we do not even have a stadium for it? The Rizal Memorial Football Field has been taken over by Track and Field, which extended the long jump runway into the playing field for football. Damn those @#$%&* politicos!
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hvp 12.20.09)
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