POC to apply new by-laws in polls

A new set of by-laws will be used, making the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) elections a little more complicated than before.

POC election committee chairman Atty. Teodoro Kalaw IV said there will be some key changes in the staging of the polls scheduled this Friday at the East Ocean Palace restaurant in Pasay City.

For one, they will no longer elect a POC chairman, a ceremonial position that is being held by senior executive Steve Hontiveros of handball.

Also, the POC will no longer allow to run candidates who are already 75 years old by the day of the election, a key amendment that was made in line with the previous order of the International Olympic Committee that only the young, dynamic executives should be allowed to lead the local Olympic movements.

None of those seeking elective positions will be affected by the age cap with incumbent POC president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino of cycling and his challenger, Joaquin “Chito” Loyzaga of baseball, only 60 and 66 years old, respectively.

“This is a new qualification,” said Kalaw, who will oversee the staging of the polls together with Philippine Sports Commission commissioner Olivia “Bong” Coo and Letran College Calamba Rector Fr. Napoleon Encarnacion, OP.

“The candidates for all elective positions should not be 75 years old on the date of the election. They should have not reached their 75th birthday, in this case, on November 29, 2024. If you’re 75th birthday is on the election day, you’re not qualified.”

But what makes the staging of the polls a little complicated is the manner of declaring the winners.

Kalaw explained that before they formally raise the hands of the triumphant candidates, they first have to make sure if they comply with the requirements of the IOC that 30 percent of the elective positions will be occupied by women and that three of the five members of the executive board will come from Olympic sports.

“Before the proclamation, we have to first look at the gender requirement,” he said.

“There’s a gender requirement that states that 30 percent of the executive board must be female. It was instituted by the International Olympic Committee.”

“I want to note that it’s for the whole board — not just for those elected.”

“It can be possible that the gender requirement would not be met by one or two (elections) because sobra ang males. In which case, we will certify, if the threshold is met, we will certify. If there’s 10 positions, there should be three more more women who are in.”

Kalaw, meanwhile, added that if candidates from non-Olympic sports get majority of the positions in the executive council, they have to disqualify the lowest vote-getter and replace him or her with the highest vote-getter from national sports associations (NSAs) who will be part of the Olympic program in 2028.

“The by-laws require that at least three of the five executive board members must be from NSAs from Olympic sports,” Kalaw said.

“If we determine that kulang ng isa, let’s say dalawa lang from Olympic sports, we will disqualify the lowest-ranking NSA who is not in the Olympic sport program this 2028 and we will add in the NSA that is an Olympic sport who got the highest number of votes.”

It, however, doesn’t seem to be a problem as only Ferdie Agustin of jiu-jitsu, Charlie Ho of netball, and Rommel Miranda of kurash are the only candidates from non-Olympic sports.