NORTH Cotabato Vice-Governor Emmanuel Pi?ol was disappointed that former Davao del Norte Rep. Tonyboy Floirendo didn’t become president of the Amateur Association of the Philippines (AbapP), but he has high hopes on the leadership of Ricky Vargas as president and Manny V. Pangilinan as chairman.
Pi?ol was dismayed that Floirendo was not even recognized as Abap-Southern Mindanao director, thus he wasn’t qualified to be part of the sport body’s electorate.
“There was a conspiracy why Tonyboy wasn’t recognized by Abap. He could be the best person for the position having proved himself with the astounding success of his Barangay Una boxing program,” Pi?ol said.
“His program is the best model of grassroots boxing development. I couldn’t find any other effective program like his in the country,” Pi?ol added.
He said Floirendo sends his boxers to school, provides their needs and trains them to become Palaro and National Open champions. The latter’s program had also produced a handful of boxers to the national training pool, but Pi?ol claimed were not taken cared of by Abap just like what happened to his own boxers.
“I’m happy though that Vargas and Pangilinan are now on top with Abap. I hope to see an entirely new Abap. I just hope they won’t allow former Abap secretary-general Rogelio Fortaleza get a hand into Abap’s affairs because that would be an entirely different story,” Pi?ol said.
He lauded the entry of chairman Ramirez as Abap Board of Trustee for Southern Mindanao a welcome development.
Abap-Southern Mindanao is upbeat about producing the country’s first gold medal in the Olympics as stakeholders agree to consolidate all efforts and resources to discover and train potential talents for that very purpose. (MLSA)
