Equestrian group holds polls sans POC nod

MANILA, Philippines - A breakaway group of Equestrian Association of the Philippines yesterday elected Party List Rep. Carissa Coscoluella as its new president in another leadership dispute right on the turf of Philippine Olympic Committee head Jose Cojunagco Jr., the equestrian chief.

The group, which claims to have 22 members of the EAP, also elected Juan Ramon Lanza (vice-president), Totti de Leon (corporate secretary-treasurer), incumbent Milagros Belofsky (secretary-general) and Jose Ma. Montilla, Eric Tensuan and Toni Leviste (board members).

But the elections were held without an official observer from the POC, a basic requirement for POC recognition.

POC spokesperson Joey Romasanta said the POC refused to send a representative to the elections because they were not mandated by the association’s constitution and by-laws.

“Our stand has always been the election is not necessary, it’s not provided for by the constitution and by-laws. This is clearly set to embarrass Congressman Peping (Cojuangco),” Romasanta said.

 But Coscolluela said in a statement that “they have done everything legally, we have the mandate, and we will rise to the challenge.”

“This will be a working group and even as we await the reply of our Asian and international federations after we send them the results of the election, we will start working to provide services to our stakeholders and riders,” she said.

At the same time, Romasanta said Cojuangco still enjoys the support of the majority of the seven-man board.

He said only two EAP board members – Coscoluella, and Belofsky – attended the polls with Leviste representing his father former Batangas Gov. Antonio. The four other board members – Cojuangco, Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski, Vitorio Barba and Teresa Hernandez – were not present in the meeting.

Despite the absence of the POC’s sanction, Coscoluella, a former team manager of the national team, said “we will still follow the legalities of the matter and send them the result of the election, we are still hoping though that Mr. Cojuangco will listen to the voice of the membership, that is what is important and now that the election is over, there should only be one group for equestrian and as far as we are concerned, the programs we will be putting in place will be open to all.”

Coscoluella will also seek the support and recognition of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) for her group though as in the past, “ our members will continue to fund ourselves even as we will try to get additional funds from corporate sponsors for our program.”