| PFF election fever |
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| Jack Biantan | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday, 11 November 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||
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LONDON - The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) will hold it's election on Nov. 24 and four personalities are running according to a report from the country's most popular broadsheet newspaper, The Philippine Daily Inquirer. Former Negros Occidental congressman Charlie Cojuangco, former national team player Mariano `Nonong' Araneta of Iloilo, long time football supporter and official Jose Mari Martinez and publicist Ed Formoso. Of the four personalities introduced above, I personally know only one of them, Mari Martinez. I was involved in a project with him several years back in Cebu. The project was very promising. It took off but never flew away. I never know what happened to the project. Martinez is also a long time football supporter, was also a former national team player and former Mr. Football of the Philippines, according to reports. He ran for PFF president four years ago against incumbent Johnny Romualdez. I do not know much about Mariano `Nonong' Araneta Jr. of Iloilo. All I know is that he is the brother of current PFF secretary general Pablito Araneta, and he is also a former national team player. Ed Formoso is another candidate that I do not know. But when I googled him I found out that he has a website dedicated to football, ourpff.org. His plans, projects, programs, expectations, diaries are all in the website. The only downside of the website is that I need to use a magnifying glass to read the articles. I also personally do not know Charlie Cojuangco. But he is the most well known personality among the four candidates.Who does not know the Cojuangco family of Negros anyway? They practically run Negros. Charlie was a mayor of Negros Occidental town of Pontevedra for six years and was a congressman of Negros Occidental's 4th district for nine years. His term ended last year and did not seek public office to concentrate on caring for his two children. He was married to the late TV personality Rio Diaz. HOW TO BE PRESIDENT It is great honor to be president of the PFF and lots of people want this position because of it's perks and monetary benifits. Fifa, the world governing body of the game, gives lots of mulah to the association every year. Fifa has more money than the Philippines. Money earned from the past World Cups has been helping third world football nations like our country. The next PFF president should dedicate the next four years of his life in making the beautiful game popular in the country. He should fix the PFF and stop all these quarels. The PFF should also be transparent in its financial records so that these quarels will be prevented. Then he should make the national team stronger and participate in all competitions available abroad. The next PFF president should also revive the national age group tournaments like the Coke Go-for-Goal, Milo Cup and Adidas Cup. Where are they now? What happened to them? They were vast sources of talents which feed the national team. Then the PFF should organize a strong national championships. It will be very difficult to organize a semi pro league but once all these plans are placed this is the only way to move forward. There are 32 football associations all over the country who can vote for the president. It is not difficult to campaign because the candidates have to convince only 32 persons. I just hope and pray that there will be no vote buying just like `allegedly' the previous election. If I can vote I will not vote for any of them. Because, I do not know their programs yet. If any four of you read this column, write to me at jackbiantan@yahoo.com so that I can give you some space and I could recommend who will be the next PFF prexy. UP FROM HIBERNATION  I am back from my self imposed hibernation. I just had a month long rest in my wife's hometown in Gitagum, Misamis Oriental in Mindanao. I had the time of my life enjoying my one-year old son Ethan. I had only the mountains and the sea to look up to. No traffic, no internet, no relatives to bother. I had only the cows, goats, chicken and the fishes to keep me company. Now, its back to reality in cold London.BEND IT SWEEPSTAKES Before my hibernation, I agreed with our administrator Alain on the winner for the month of September for our Bend It sweepstakes. I have picked Reddevil as the winner for September. Reddevil please e-mail me at jackbiantan@yahoo.com to claim your prize. Send me your details and write something about yourself. There will be no winner for October because obviously I was not around. The winner for November will be picked at the end of this month. GOD BLESS Email the author
brainsalad
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| Nice to read your articles again Jack. Yeah, PFF elections is heating up, this should be the deciding factor for the future of Philippine Football, for the next four years anyway. I think the next PFF President should improve on the country?s Grassroots program. I don?t know what happened to ?Kasibulan? program before, does it still exists today? That was one program that?s keeping our youngsters interested in football. This is a great venue for harvesting young potentials to be great footballers someday. Another point that the next president should improve on is media exposure for pinoy football or football in general. What I?ve observed is, there is no media fire that?s keeping kids interested in football, after a few years it is overshadowed by basketball. Lastly corporate sponsorship, the next president should really work hard on how to convey the limitless potential of football, for Corporate sponsorship. I mean you see it in Europe; shirts with AIG, Fly Emirates, SAMSUNG, BEN Q? Why can?t it be? SAN MIGUEL, ALASKA, COCA-COLA.. etc. After it?s the beautiful game the most popular sport in the world!! On a side note? I think it's really nice that one candidate(Ed Formoso), have a website / online blog running, for at least fans would have a glimpse of the candidate?s plan on how to improve the PFF, in the next 4 years. Just like our presidential elections, it is necessary to know the candidates platform of government, before rooting for them. I hope other PFF presidential candidates would follow suit, or at least can give us some info here at pinoysoccer.com about their respective platforms. I know we don?t get to vote, but heck we are 100% HARDCORE PINOY FOOTBALL FANS!!! I think we deserve some info! Ü |
jackbiantan
said:
| ATTENTION REDDEVIL: PLEASE CLAIM YOUR PRIZE, WRITE TO ME AT jackbiantan@yahoo.com write something about yourself also. |
jackbiantan
said:
| YES. WHAT YOU SAID ARE TRUE WE JUST WAIT AND SEE. BY THE WAY YOU WON THE BEND IT SWEEPSTAKES FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER. CAN YOU E-MAIL ME AT jackbiantan@yahoo.com to claim you prize say somthing about yourself. Thanks. |
cryst
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| Hi ! This our my thoughts on PFF elections. 1. Who ever wins must dedicate his whole time to football, the position must not be his side line but a full 24/7 job. 2. Make sure the Azkals join every football tournament we are invited too. eg. the SEA games, SEA championship , world cup qualifiers, or pocket tournaments around Asia. It does not matter if they have Medal potential or not what is important is that we join this tournaments. 3. Also I think we need to have a "Foreign Maanger" from overseas. Cryst, Kuala Lumpur www.sports-couch.blogspot.com |
Reddevil
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| Hi Jack, I was wondering when your next coloumn would come out. Its good to see you in action again and happy you had a great vacation (judging from that pic). We've heard about the PFF elections and a lot of people are looking at it and hoping for some major changes, most of which you have enumerated in your coloumn. I think of the four individuals, my pick would go to Jose Mari Martinez. I dont know him personally but the fact that he ran against Johnny Romualdez the last time out is reason enough for me to pick him. Araneta and Formoso has strong links to the current PFF President and I think we should give the other side a chance to show what he can do to change our footballing situation. Charlie Cojuanco is the other alternative but with Peping Cojuanco also head of the POC, this could pose some issues because of their relations. I think its just something that Philippine football should avoid as there are enough problems on the pitch to have this as an additional issue. Regardless of the potential sponsorship he can bring to the table (i.e. San MIguel Corp). Money isnt everything. I think the PFF will have enough funds available to make a difference. Speaking of funds, why is it that we cant compell them to be transparent? This is one of the issues Romualdez consistently ducked during his reign. Why cant the PFF President be forced to account for everything? Anyway, its going to be politics thats going to determine the outcome, as you said, they just need to convince 32 associations. Their individual platforms can be a basis. Needless to say, I am really skeptical about these grand designs. Such is the state of Filipino politics, 99% of them will say they will do this but once elected, promises are forgotten. As in any position of power, what matters is the person's integrity, dignity and honor that you hope will be the guiding light in his decision making. If he is not in it for anything else except the betterment of Philippine football (sounds too optimistic), then I would campaign for him for free. Regards, Reddevil |
jackbiantan
said:
| maxi wla mahurot ang balbacua. dino d lets just hope the next PFF president will not frustrate us. |
dino d
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| good to hear you had a good vacation ManU had good form recently, and it was sad to see them throw away the Arsenal match in the final second. a "buzzerbeater" in more basketball terms. but, even with Rooney out they still put on a good show against Blackburn, who has quite a good record at present too. personally, no matter who becomes PFF president, I'd like to see more steps in bringing football into the mainstream, and heck make it more accessible to regular guys like me who want more than just those rare futsal matches I can go to. |
maxi
said:
| hows da balbacua? welcom bak from hibernation |
