Philippine Badminton President steps down after 15 years

After 15 years, former First Lady, Amelita Ramos has stepped down last Saturday from her position as President of the Philippine Badminton Association. According to local newspapers, Mrs. Ramos did it to unite all the sides present in the politically troubled organization.

By Lee Anne Therese Yabut, Philippines, WWGBA

Former national head coach, Errol Chan, has also been reported to have submitted his resignation. A few years back, the former supervisor of PBA’s grassroots development program claimed to be the association’s president after a separate election was conducted to replace Mrs. Ramos. The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), later on, supervised another proceeding- Mrs. Ramos was voted president while Chan became vice president.

However, reports say that POC continues to recognize Chan’s line up of officers as there were also claims of political conflicts between the POC Head, Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. and Mrs. Ramos. In 2008, Mrs. Ramos had openly announced her support for another officer, Art Macapagal in POC polls nearly beating Conjuangco 19 votes to 21. Other national sports associations such as cycling, archery, wushu and equestrian have also been said to have internal problems while tournament endorsements have also been affected. In 2008, Philippine Open, an annual 4-star tournament, was cancelled due to financial and political problems. The Badminton World Federation (BWF), meanwhile, issued a statement in February 2010, reassuring their continuous recognition of the former first lady as the legitimate head of the association.

New Delegates

Last Saturday, a meeting between badminton’s stakeholders, including POC head, agreed to pass the presidency to the country’s current Vice President Jejomar Binay. Manny Pangilinan, the primary sponsor of MVP Cup: Asia Vs. Europe which has invited world-class players to the Philippines, was also chosen as PBA Vice President alongside Congressman Albert Benitez, who became secretary-general. The congressman was also one of the major contributors to numerous Philippine Open Badminton Championships. Mrs. Ramos will take an honorary position as one of the main advisors of the organization.

Future of Philippine Badminton

Despite the recent developments, PBA has yet to conduct an assembly and official line-up of officers, as it still needs to collaborate with its member clubs. An election is expected to take place within the month for new official designations. Certain arrangements between sponsorships, internal positions and coaching assignments are also yet to be settled upon. There were also reports that two additional directors will be added for better representation between political sides.

“The agreement was there has to be representatives from each concerned side in order to unite everyone. Since the association has been divided for some time now and each side has its own say and contribution to badminton, then it would be better to people work together under a foreign leadership. At the same time, they can also help solve the financial problems of the sport,” according to Coach Conrado Co, a well-awarded former national player and coach of current age-group champions like Malvinne “Poca” Alcala, who recently won gold (17 under) at the Singapore Youth International Badminton Championships.

New VP Manny Pangilinan has also been reported to be providing more than 100 million pesos (almost US$2.5 Million) for 8 different national sports associations including badminton. The three new delegates have also endorsed a recently controversial Philippine Badminton Ranking System which could be the primary ranking system of the country. It is a 4-legged tournament designed to have all badminton players in different categories graded through a point system.