Manotoc bid good for golf — Gopez

National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) secretary-general Benny Gopez yesterday urged sportsman Tommy Manotoc to pursue his bid to run for the highest post in the NGAP elections to, once and for all, unify the golfing community.

"Mas maganda pag pumasok sila para mas dumami ang miyembro ng NGAP dahil mas maganda pag sama-sama kaming lahat," said Gopez, adding that the move could pave the way for the establishment of a truly organized golf community.

But the NGAP official stressed that the Manotoc camp must go through the process first, in this case convinced the clubs supporting him to reactivate their membership with the NGAP and pay their dues covering a three-year period from 2002 to be able to participate in the April 26 election.

The directive was perceived by the Manotoc bloc as a way to stymie his bid for the NGAP presidency, sparking reports of a possible massive pullout by clubs from the Visayas and Mindanao, known stronghold of the 55-year old golf champ. Another Cavite-based club may also leave the golf body.

Manotoc’s camp lashed out at the issuance of the NGAP circular on membership dues that may run up to hundreds of thousands, or even millions of pesos to be paid by clubs wishing to reactivate their memberships.

Manotoc pointed out the new restrictions gave his group no other option but to back out (of the polls) since it would be very difficult to ask the clubs supporting him to raise those big amounts of money given a limited period of time. Deadline for payment of dues is set on March 27.

"Two weeks is a lot of time," said Gopez, adding that like in any other club, a delinquent member is disallowed to play until he settles his dues. It’s as simple as that."

But the Manotoc camp thinks otherwise.

"It doesn’t look good at this stage," a Manotoc backer told The STAR yesterday. "We might have an NGAP with a token number of member clubs," added the source.

There are about 40 active member clubs from among close to 70 golf clubs in the country and Gopez hopes to lure the rest back to the NGAP fold before next month’s election.

The March 9 memorandum directed member clubs, those whose handicapping is not done by the NGAP, to submit their rosters which will be the basis for payment of membership dues for a three-year period from 2002. The membership dues is pegged at P150 per club’s individual active member.

This would mean clubs will need to shell out big amounts to be able to reactivate their memberships. Manotoc is counting on this group of inactive clubs, including Canlubang .

"Lumaban kayo. Now, if they win, it will be a big challenge for them to put up something for the development of the sport," Gopez dared the Manotoc camp. "Pero kung ayaw nyo, eh di h’wag.