THE election committee on Monday junked the motion for reconsideration filed by the camp of Ricky Vargas after the three-man jury again cited the rulings under its bylaws that denied the boxing chief’s candidacy for the November 25 polls.
In a resolution signed by election committee head Francisco Elizalde, the commission maintained its stance to deny the attempt of Vargas to run for presidency of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) due to his eligibility of running for the top post, insisting that Vargas is “not an active member” under the POC Charter.
“The commission finds Mr. Vargas’s record of attendance to be way short of the requirement of active membership in the General Assembly prescribed under Section II, Article VII of the POC by laws,” said the resolution also approved by Party-list Rep. Conrado Estrella of Abono and Bro. Bernie Oca, FSC.
The document also presented that out of the last 20 assemblies, Vargas only attended one session.
The bylaw being debated in the POC Charter indicates that the candidates should be “active members” from the time of their election.
Vargas is set to challenge the 12-year reign of incumbent POC President Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, who is serving at the helm of the federation since 2004.
Chito Salud, the former Philippine Basketball Association commissioner and now the legal counsel of Vargas, targets to bring the matter to court.
“Mr. Vargas will seek redress in the courts of law. He wants an objective and authoritative interpretation of this indistinct eligibility requirement,” Salud said.
Salud retaliated to the ruling of “active membership” and questioned the legality of the term.
“The POC bylaws do not contain any definition of ‘active member’ nor any clear guideline to determine active membership,” Salud noted.
Last week the camp of Vargas met with members of the election committee to lay down their pointers to be reconsidered in hopes of turning the early decision of disqualifying the water-utility supplier president.
They acknowledged the need for the clarification of the term “active membership” that also towed down the candidacy of PhilCycling’s Abraham Tolentino for chairmanship.
“The election committee failed and refused to see merits of the arguments raised by Mr. Vargas,” Salud reiterated.
“Active membership is not physical appearance in the general assembly. And physical appearance or attendance do not necessarily translate to active membership,” he added.