Philippine Olympic Committee chair Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, Jr.
MANILA, Philippines—Senator Antonio Trillanes wants the country’s national sports associations to replace Philippine Olympic Committee chair Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, Jr., weeks after the Philippines once again failed to win a medal in the recently concluded Olympic Games in London.
Trillanes, the chair of the Senate committee on amateur sports competitiveness, minced no words in showing his disappointment with the POC president and called Cojuangco “the greatest stumbling block to sports development [in the country].”
“For decades, sports development in the country failed to move forward and has consistently been derailed from its tracks due to lack of clear vision and necessary will for reforms,” Trillanes said.
“The way I see it, we must expect more dismal performances from our athletes unless our NSAs elect a new POC president and replace Mr. Cojuangco,” he said.
Trillanes’ committee is looking into the state of the Philippine sports after the debacle in London.
Trillanes is also the author of Senate Bill 3092 that would create the Department of Sports. He said the the agency would formulate policy, plan, coordinate, implement, promote and develop sports and physical fitness in the country.
He is also supporting a proposed measure creating the Philippine High School for Sports in order to institutionalize efforts for talent pooling and training of young athletes to produce future champions.