PSC chair ready to end row with POC

MANILA, Philippines - Is there light at the end of the tunnel for the PSC and the POC?

For PSC chairman Harry Angping, yes, there is.

“Philippine sports will never succeed if the PSC and the POC don’t work as a team,” Angping said yesterday when asked if he was ready to bury the hatchet with his POC counterparts.

Since he assumed office last February, Angping has faced the heavy burden of having to please his fellow sports officials as much as he has to please the hundreds of national athletes.

In many occasions, on many issues, there have been a clash of ideas between the two sports bodies. Angping, a former congressman like POC president Jose Cojuangco, said it’s time to look forward.

“It’s like being in a marriage – you need to work together,” he told the PSA Forum at Shakey’s UN Avenue.

“I still dream of that day where the PSC and the POC can work together as a team for the sake of the athletes,” said Angping, adding that it wouldn’t need a peace envoy or a negotiator to make it happen.

“You can make it happen,” he told the scribe who posed the question.

“Again, we will never succeed unless we work together,” said the PSC chief, adding that he’s willing to sit down with the other side next week “after we reflect” during All-Saints Day.

The POC, through its spokesman, Jose Romasanta, welcomed the possibility.

“Everybody is just a text or a phone call away. Everybody is reachable. I think it’s about time for all of us to set aside our differences and do what is right,” he said.

In the same forum, Angping said he’s sticking to the 153 athletes who qualified to the SEA Games, but said that if by any chance, any one among the 60 additional athletes under the POC list can come close to the standard then they will be given slots to the team.

“We are for inclusion and not exclusion,” said Angping. “If we feel that they should be in then we will put them in the list. But they need to do it fast because we’re running out of time.”

Angping also aired his side on the allegations being hurled against him by the wrestling group, that he “misappropriated funds” during the country’s hosting of the Asian Wrestling Championship last July.

Angping branded the allegations as “fabrications” and showed documents that would show that the wresling group is the one that owes PSC money.

He said the PSC spent P6.3 million for the hosting of the event even if it only promised a financial support of P2 million.

“The agreement was very simple. I will advance the money in exchange for the collection of the registration fees. They charged each of the 250 athletes $500 each and therefore they collected close to P5.9 million. They did not honor the agreement. They should return almost P4 million to the PSC,” said Angping.

“Our accounting department has all the details. And we will answer the charges in the proper time,” said the PSC chief. – Abac Cordero