The Philippine Olympic Committee executive board will now take full control of the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

But during a board meeting yesterday, the local Olympic council retained Alan Peter Cayetano as chairman of the POC committee that will oversee the management of the hosting of the biennial meet set from 30 November to 15 December.

Cayetano’s appointment is valid only for this year’s SEA Games.

The organizing body may still be called Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc), but the POC executive board will create an oversight committee that will closely monitor its activities and review all of its previous contracts.

A portion of the private fund obtained by the Phisgoc will be remitted to the POC, which will then be used for the training and participation of elite athletes in various international tournaments.

POC president Ricky Vargas was given the authority to designate the members of the oversight committee. There were suggestions that Vargas should tap lawyers and accountants so that all contracts and memoranda of agreement entered into by Phisgoc could be carefully reviewed.

“POC shall take full control and supervision over Phisgoc,” the POC executive board said in a resolution.

POC board member Prospero Pichay welcomed this development, saying these changes are what they have discussed when he sat down with fellow board members Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, Joey Romasanta, Jeff

Tamayo, Jonnie Go, Robert Mananquil and Julian Camacho last Wednesday.

Pichay, the Deputy Speaker in the House, said they are not trying to delay the country’s preparation for the hosting of the biennial meet. But they are putting things in order so that possible lawsuits will be avoided, he reiterated.

The POC “owns” any Olympic sport held in the country as mandated by the International Olympic Committee, Olympic Council of Asia and the SEA Games Federation Council.

A private firm such as Phisgoc, or the Phisgoc Foundation formed by Vargas and Cayetano which initially took control of the SEA Games preparations, cannot own the events, Pichay and his group said.

“The SEA Games is an Olympic event. We have the mandate from the SEA Games Federation Council to organize here in the country. So, what we want is to have control of the hosting and not an independent body like the Phisgoc,” Pichay said.

The local Olympic council retained Alan Peter Cayetano as chairman of the POC committee that will oversee the management of the hosting

of the biennial meet set from 30 November to 15 December.

Pichay confirmed that they have yet to get Cayetano’s reaction to this development. He, however, is optimistic that the former Foreign Affairs Secretary will accept their decision “for the sake of the country’s hosting of the SEA Games.”

“I think Secretary Alan is reasonable enough to accept what we have decided unanimously,” he said. “The ball is now in his court. It’s going to be a setback if he doesn’t accept it because we have to start back from scratch and further delay the preparation.”

No government fund will pass through the POC.