Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino will remain as president of the Philippine Olympic Committee.
The cycling head hit the required 27 votes at around 3:50PM, Friday, defeating Clint Aranas of archery during the POC Elections held at East Ocean Palace in Paranaque City.
Tolentino ended up with 30 votes versus 22.
“Of course, it’s an honor to serve the Filipino athlete and the country. This is a full four year term,” said the amiable executive, who finished out his Ricky Vargas’ term last year. “Definitely, there will be a lot of surprises. In more than one year, we showed a lot. Paano pa kaya ‘yung full four years?”
The representative out of Tagaytay City will lead the POC for the next four years which will cover two Olympic events, two Southeast Asian Games, among others.
Tolentino, whose first term lasted for just one year and five months, promised to unite the fractured Philippine sports scene prior to being elected.
Also winning from Tolentino’s ticket were basketball’s Al Panlilio (first vice president); fencing’s and modern pentathlon’s Richard Gomez (second vice president); gymnastics’ and dancesports’ Cynthia Carrion-Norton (treasurer); baseball’s Chito Loyzaga (auditor); and surfing’s Dr. George Canlas, muay’s Pearl Managuelod, and judo’s Dave Carter as board members.
Team SPORTS’ Steve Hontiveros of handball retained chairmanship, while Atty. Charlie Ho of netball was elected to the board.
This result signifies the trust the majority of national sports agency’s have for Tolentino.
