FERNANDEZ
THE CEBU sports community will be taking part in a simultaneous protest against Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) chief Jose “Peping” Cojuangco on Thursday, a day President Rodrigo Duterte declared as a national day of protest.
The rally for “Peace and Change in Philippine Sports” will be held simultaneously in Manila and Cebu. The venue in Manila will be at the Rizal Memorial Stadium while the one in Cebu will be held at the Fuente Osmeña Circle.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William Ramirez in Metro Manila leads the rally at the nation’s capital while PSC Visayas commissioner Ramon Fernandez will head the version at the Queen City of the South.
The protest, which will run from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, aims to call for the resignation of long-time Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) chief Jose “Peping” Cojuangco.
“I am calling on our Cebuano sports aficionados to come and support our call for Peace and Change in Philippine Sports and show everybody we are true blooded sportsmen and we support our athletes! This is also a call for a stop to favoritism and prejudice in the selection of national athletes,” said Fernandez.
Fernandez earlier said the main purpose of the rally is to urge Cojuangco to call for a general assembly meeting and hold “an open, public and democratic elections.”
“To tell you the truth, the elections last year was a big fiasco,” Fernandez said during a visit to the Cebu Daily News office last September 9.
He said Cojuangco employed all the dirty tricks in the books to ensure that he stays in power. “I hope that all those who love sports will come out on September 21 to call for unity hoping that the POC leadership will see the light.”
Last year, Cojuangco secured a fourth term as POC president by having the POC Election Committee disqualify Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (Abap) president Ricky Vargas.
It is under Cojuangco’s leadership that the Philippines had its lowest output in the Southeast Asian Games. In the recent biennial meet in Malaysia, the Philippines collected 24 gold medals, 33 silvers and 64 bronze medals for sixth place among 11 teams. It did not even reach half of the projected 50-gold medal harvest flaunted by chef de mission Cynthia Carrion-Norton before the games began.
Fernandez said he is confident that Cebuanos will throw their support behind this noble undertaking in the same manner that they rallied behind Southeast Asian Games marathon champion Mary Joy Tabal when the latter was kicked out of the national team by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa) two months before the Kuala Lumpur games.
Fernandez said Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) chairman Edward Hayco along with some personalities in arnis and table tennis will be attending the rally. He can’t determine the exact number of people joining the protest.