Manila: The election committee chairperson, lawyer Teodoro Alejandro Kalaw IV, has set a deadline for contending parties in the upcoming Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) elections to submit their summaries by noon on November 23. This decision follows a clarificatory meeting held on Tuesday at the Century Park Hotel in Manila, where both sides presented their cases.

According to Philippines News Agency, the committee, which includes member Philippine Sports Commissioner Olivia Coo, listened to four petitions for disqualification. These petitions were filed by the camps of incumbent POC president Abraham Tolentino and his challenger Chito Loyzaga, ahead of the elections scheduled for November 29. Kalaw emphasized that the summation of arguments would help determine the merits of the protests involved.

Tolentino, accompanied by his “Working Team” candidates for the POC Board, including Alvin Aguilar (wrestling), Alexander Sulit (judo), and Leah Jalandoni Gonzales (fencing), as well as POC secretary general
Wharton Chan and head of legal Billy Sumagui, attended the hearing. On the other hand, Loyzaga was joined by Robert Bachmann (squash), Freddie Jalasco (wushu), Rommel Miranda (kurash), and gymnastics deputy secretary general Rowena Bautista.

During the proceedings, lawyer Lean Carlo Macoto from the Aranas Cruz Araneta Parker and Faustino Law firm represented some of the Loyzaga ticket’s arguments. However, Macoto, along with Loyzaga and Bachmann, left the session before its conclusion, leaving Jalasco and Eusuya to represent their group.

The four cases discussed included a protest by Aguilar against Loyzaga for not meeting the active membership requirement based on his attendance at POC general assembly meetings. Additionally, Bachmann’s group filed a protest against Tolentino, alleging a lack of accountability and transparency in financial reports. The eligibility of Miranda and gymnastics’s Myrna Lao, who are both running for board seats, was also questioned.

Jose Ponciano Malonzo of Vovinam was present
at the meeting to withdraw his protest against Bachmann’s qualification for the second vice president post. Meanwhile, Tolentino refrained from commenting on the proceedings but insisted on adherence to the POC election procedures.

San Juan de Letran Calamba rector and president Rev. Fr. Napoleon Encarnacion, O.P., who is the third member of the election committee, was absent from the hearing. The POC election will involve 61 voting members who will elect the president, first and second vice presidents, treasurer, auditor, and five executive board members by secret ballot.

Tolentino’s team also includes basketball’s Al Panlilio as first vice president, modern pentathlon’s Leyte 4th District Rep. Richard Gomez as second vice president, surfing’s Dr. Jose Raul Canlas as treasurer, volleyball’s Don Caringal as auditor, and canoe-kayak’s Leonora Escolante as an executive board member.