The executive committee of the Philippine Olympic Committee headed by POC president Jose ?Peping? Cojuangco meets at 11:00 a.m. today to take up the issue of Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao replacing multi-titled Southeast Asian Games swimmer Miguel Molina as RP flag-bearer at the Beijing Olympic Games.
POC spokesman Joey Romasanta said the special board meeting would ?formalize Pacquiao being the flag-bearer since the designation of Molina was decided by the board and they have to undo that.?
Veteran sports executive Mauricio Martelino faces a dilemma on how to make the change since the accreditation deadline was last April 15 and with just one month to go before the August 8 opening Martelino can only promise to make the request and do his best.
Romasanta said he believes that since it was President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who ?expressed the desire? to have Pacquiao, the only Filipino and Asian to win four world boxing titles, ?the Chinese embassy may lend a helping hand to convince the organizing committee? of the Beijing Olympics.
The other problem, although of a minor nature, was that the inclusion of Pacquiao would disrupt the ratio of officials to athletes. Romasanta said while it would definitely alter the proportion ?we can resolve that easily since Pacquiao won?t be there all the time.?
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