Vargas ‘acted alone’ on pullout

Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Ricky Vargas’ decision to support the withdrawal of the men’s basketball team from the 18th Asian Games did not sit well with some members of the POC executive council.

At least four ranking POC officials told the Daily Tribune that Vargas did not seek consensus before throwing his full support behind the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas’ (SBP) withdrawal from the prestigious quadrennial conclave set in Jakarta next month.

The source, a long-time member of the Olympic family, stressed that what Vargas did was a “unilateral decision” which did not have the blessing of the powerful POC executive board.

The source said veteran members of the Board could have helped him exhaust avenues to reach out to the Indonesian Asian Games Organizing Committee (Inasgoc) and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) to keep them in loop of action.

Instead, Vargas issued a statement of support to the pullout that followed the massive brawl between Gilas Pilipinas and Australia during the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifier last month in Bulacan.

“He didn’t reach out (to the Board). We were not consulted,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to compromise his relationship with the POC leadership.

“We’re all willing to help and find the best solution to this problem. We could even help him reach out to the Inasgoc and OCA for ‘scenario-building’ and damage control. But he didn’t consult with us. He acted on his own. It was a unilateral decision.”

Even chief of mission Richard Gomez was shocked with the decision after he made a last-minute attempt to save the participation of the national cagers.

But the POC formalized the withdrawal before the Inasgoc and OCA last Tuesday.

Another source said Vargas also failed to call an executive council meeting to solve the Gilas mess.

Based on the POC constitution and by-laws, the POC chief should call for an executive council meeting every last Wednesday of the month. Also to be set is a general assembly meeting every second Wednesday, two months after the board meeting.

Vargas last called for an executive council meeting last 4 July followed by a general assembly.

The source said since the Asian Games pullout is an urgent matter and Vargas should have called an emergency board meeting.

The decision, he said. should have been made by the body and not by one person.

“We had no choice to defend our position on this issue because there was no meeting to begin with. He didn’t call for a meeting,” said the source, adding that Vargas might be too busy to attend to the POC due to his corporate duties and as chairman of the Philippine Basketball Association board of governors.

“We’re trying to understand that he has a lot of things on his plate right now. But the Asian Games pullout is a major issue that requires urgency. He should have called for an emergency board meeting to tackle this matter.”

With the pullout, the POC – not the SBP – is facing sanctions from the OCA.

The source said this is the first time that a country pulled out an entire team from the Asian Games so they expect the OCA to go hard on the POC.

Aside from a monetary fine, the source said a suspension is also possible and it could drastically affect the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games next year.

“The POC is the member of the OCA, not the SBP. So obviously, it’s the POC which will carry the consequences of the SBP’s decision to pull out of the Asian Games,” said the source, adding that the OCA definitely not buy the SBP’s reason of pulling out of the Asian Games because “we couldn’t form a competitive team.”

“This is unprecedented. Sure, there were withdrawals before, but all of them are due to medical and other emergency reasons. The problem with this (pullout) is that it was done because of SBP’s failure to form a competitive team. I don’t think that was a very good excuse.”

Five members of the Asian Games team were implicated in the brawl and were given suspensions by the International Basketball Federation.

Although the suspension does not cover the Asian Games, the SBP still decided to bar the players from seeing action in the prestigious multi-sport tourney.

“Basketball is considered as our national sport. It is very popular here. We’re able to compete in world-class tournaments. The suspension doesn’t cover the Asian Games. So how would you convince OCA that you couldn’t form a competitive team?” the source asked.