Central Visayas football officials optimistic with reelection of Araneta as PFF prexy 

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Relief seems to be the general feeling among members of the Cebu football community after Mariano “Nonong” Araneta was re-elected as the president of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). 

Araneta won, 23-12, against Ricky Yanson, the president of the Negros Occidental Football Association (NOFA) in a secret balloting among 32 football associations and three football clubs on Friday, November 29, 2019, at the Century Park Hotel in Manila. 

Read: Nonong Araneta re-elected as Philippine Football Federation president

“Karon nga nahuman na ang election, lipay na ang tanan nga naa nay nidaug. Kalimtan na ang mga nangagi sa wa pa ang election and let’s move forward,” said Rodney Orale, who heads the Central Visayas Football Association (CVFA). 

(Now that the election is done, everyone is happy that somebody has finally won. Let’s forget all those things that happened before the election and let’s move forward.)

CVFA vice president Nimrod Quiñones is looking forward to more projects to further promote football under the new mandate.

“Congratulations to Nonong Araneta and I hope that this new mandate will bring a lot of good things for football in the Philippines. I also hope that we all move forward and forget the hatred that was sown during the elections,” Quiñones said.

Former vice president Rico Navarro, for his part, urged the regional football associations (RFAs) to be proactive in the further development of the sport.

“The new mandate should drive the PFF to seek newer heights and grow the sport in the country even further. I’d also like to see the RFAs come up with more local initiatives instead of waiting for the national office to move for them,” said Navarro.

As for Josephril Partosa, who is a CVFA board member, they will be supporting whoever is in the position for the good of Philippine football. /bmjo