The Daily Tribune <<< Without Fear or Favor >>>

»HEADLINES

»NATION

Tanchangco ‘pressured’ to deny agreement with PSC

10/16/2009

By Julius Manicad

It was an announcement Mario Tanchangco now deeply regrets.

Under an alleged pressure from some Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) executives, Tanchangco yesterday denied to have confirmed the Philippine Sports Commission’s (PSC) announcement that they have agreed on sending only 153 athletes to the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Laos.

The SEA Games chief of mission, in a radio interview, said he has no authority to decide on the number of athletes since PSC chairman Harry Angping invited him as a “mere observer” in a meeting.

It was Angping, he said, who made the announcement, something which he said “is quite unfair” because the decision to send athletes should come from the national sports associations and the POC executive board.

He could have gone there with a witness, but Angping refused to meet Go Teng Kok while POC deputy secretary general Mark Joseph was not available. Instead, it was sports commissioner Joey Mundo who stood as the lone observer.

“My job starts and ends in Laos,” he said.

“I told him (Angping) thrice that I have no authority to add or reduce the number of athletes. I said I have to first get the approval of the POC board before making any decision.”

But Angping countered his denial.

“He went there representing the POC as the chief of mission,” Angping said. “I guess they (POC) have to respect Mario as the chief of mission. If they don’t agree with him, they better remove him and replace him with somebody else.”