Baseball strikes out anew as election reset

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Amateur Baseball Association (PABA) election slated today has been postponed indefinitely pending advice from the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), which has yet to name its representative to the voting process.

“We will not push through with the scheduled election and we’ll set it to a later date depending on the POC,” ad hoc committee chairman Ely Baradas said yesterday.

The POC executive board will meet today to discuss the PABA issue.

The Olympic body has ordered the association to form a new board to be elected by all baseball stakeholders and draft a new charter to be submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“In the meantime, we’d like to inform all the stakeholders identified as members of PABA to sign up their membership forms and pay the corresponding fees,” Baradas said.

The stakeholders originally set a Sept. 17 election but moved it three days earlier as they rushed to form a national team to the Southeast Asian Games in time for the deadline set by organizers.

“The delay on the election will have no  effect on the national team. We’ve already conducted a tryout and finalized a team that’s continuously practicing,” said Baradas.

The lineup, he said, was submitted to the POC last Friday by Marty Eizmendi and Martin Cojuangco, whom the POC appointed as observers to the baseball situation.