Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino of cycling will be extending his term as president of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) after he beat Joaquin “Chito” Loyzaga of baseball by a wide margin in the election of officers last Friday. Tolentino’s landslide victory was quite expected.
The Tagaytay City mayor is said to enjoy the support of majority of the members of the general assembly, including the ranking executives of the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation in Alfredo “Al” Panlilio of basketball and Victorico “Ricky” Vargas of boxing.
Aside from that, Tolentino has the credentials after Team Philippines delivered its best performance in the international arena during his watch as POC chief.
Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz rose from the ashes of the coronavirus pandemic to claim the country’s first gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Then Carlos Yulo became the first Filipino to win multiple Olympic gold when he shone in the gymnastics competition at the Paris Olympics last August.
The Filipinos also finally captured the most important gold medal after Gilas Pilipinas secured the men’s basketball title in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023. A few months before that, Team Philippines celebrated its most number of gold medals in enemy territory when it clinched 58 mints in the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.
Simply put, Tolentino did a great job steering Philippine sports in the winning direction since first being elected in 2019. But his election comes with major challenges.
Now that Tolentino will be heading Philippine sports leading up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, he has to find a way to overcome the fresh challenges that will come his way.
First, he has to sustain the momentum that Filipino athletes gained during the previous Olympics.
You see, the stars of the previous Olympic squads in Nesthy Petecio and Eumir Marcial of boxing, Ernest John Obiena of athletics, and Diaz are not getting any younger, while Yulo remains in celebratory mood following his massive success in Paris.
Should Petecio, Marcial, Obiena, and Diaz decide to hang up their jerseys and call it a career, Tolentino has to find a way to help national sports associations discover fresh talents who will bring pride and honor to the country in the SEA Games in Thailand next year, the Asian Games in Japan in 2026, and, of course, the Olympics in the United States in 2028.
There are a lot of potential athletes willing to carry the torch at the Olympics like Elreen Ando and Vanessa Sarno of weightlifting, Samantha Catantan of fencing, and, possibly, Yulo’s younger brother, Eldrew.
With that, Tolentino has to come up with a program for how these athletes can sustain the winning form that their predecessors showed in the past two editions of the Summer Games.
Still, the biggest challenge is how he will unite his fractured organization.
The past year was very difficult for Tolentino as two of his close associates — Loyzaga and Carl Sambrano of skateboarding — bolted his group and decided to challenge him in the elections.
Loyzaga, who served as POC auditor during the previous term, challenged Tolentino for the presidency, while Sambrano joined the opposition and ran for second vice president after long years of serving the local Olympic movement.
Also, there are some quarters, including senior sports officials like Monico Puentevella of weightlifting, Cynthia Carrion of gymnastics, and Steve Hontiveros of handball, who are challenging Tolentino’s leadership.
Tolentino is also said to have a frosty relationship with Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Richard “Dickie” Bachmann whose older brother, Robert Bachmann of squash, attempted to secure a temporary restraining order to prevent Tolentino from running — and winning — in the polls.
Now that Tolentino has finally won, he has to extend the olive branch to the opposition and start finding a way they can coexist for the sake of bringing more glory to the country.
Truly, Tolentino’s job is far from done. There are still bigger challenges ahead.
But knowing him — and his hands-on brand of leadership — it won’t be a surprise if he overcomes the challenges stronger, faster, higher.
Good luck, Mr. President!