Manila, Philippines, 29 July —Former FIDE Secretary General Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino was elected Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president at elections yesterday held at the Century Park Hotel in Manila.
Tolentino got 24 of the 44 possible votes made up of national sports associations, two Olympians from the athletes commission and the International Olympic Committee representative.
Photo: Tolentino being interviewed by the Press after his election as POC president.
“Now that this is over, we can move forward and focus on the SEA Games,” said Tolentino, a Congressman, Secretary General of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and PhilCycling president. Tolentino is chairman of PHISGOC, the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee which includes chess among the official sports.
Steve Hontiveros of handball was elected the new chairman. Tolentino defeated track and field head Philip Ella Juico, 24-20, in a tight race at the special elections.
Tolentino, 55, takes over the position vacated by former POC president Ricky Vargas, who resigned last June 18. Tolentino, former POC chairman, will fulfill the rest of Vargas’s tenure, and will hold office until November 2020.
“Thank you very much to my supporters. Hopefully, this finishes the POC squabble. So I think, as the saying goes, set aside the differences, and move forward. Let us all be united, because we are preparing (and) focused on the SEA Games, and next year Para Games and Olympics,” Tolentino said following his election.