Close to a hundred cycling clubs from all over the Philippines are expected to take part in the January 2009 elections of the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines, or PhilCycling, the national association for the sport.
Presidents of the clubs, which represent active cycling hubs in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, attended Saturday’s PhilCycling meeting to determine who could vote in the Jan. 16 quadrennial elections set at the Amoranto Multi-Purpose Hall in Quezon City.
Clubs from as far north as Cagayan Valley and Ilocos, down to cycling hotbeds Pangasinan, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Viscaya and the Bicol region and Cebu and the Negros provinces and northern, central and southern Mindanao have reaffirmed their affiliation with the federation headed by Bert Lina.
“But these clubs would still undergo scrutiny prior to the holding of the elections,” said Lina during Saturday’s PhlCycling meeting at the Virtue Café of the Tagaytay International Convention Center in Tagaytay.
To conform with procedures set by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) for national sports associations holding their elections, the PhilCycling will submit pertinent papers – voting membership, notice of election, constitution and by-laws, among others – to the POC in the next few days.
Oscar “Boying” Rodriguez, a councilor from Danao City and an international mountain bike commissaire and avid patron of the cycling discipline, led the representatives from the Visayas, while Franklin Gonzales and Jun Paholio headed the clubs from Mindanao.
Bicol region, a potent rival in road races of Pangasinan and northern and central Luzon, was represented by former Tour contended and Talisay Vice Mayor Juancho Ramorez, while 1974 Tour champion Modesto Bonzo was at the tip of the representation from Pangasinan. Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino headed the scenic city’s representation in the meeting.
With Lina in Saturday’s meeting were PhilCycling board members Paquito Rivas, Jun Lomibao, Carlos Gredonia, Albert Garcia, Armando Camiling and Jojo Villa. Absent were Cornelio Padilla Jr., Ronnie Ferrer and Antonio “Loi” Cruz, the federation chairman.