I came to the Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA) elections today with a great hope of having a unified association. In a meeting between the International Tennis Federation (ITF) president, PHILTA Board and the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) last October 2016, Col. (ret.) Salvador Andrada agreed to step down January of 2017 which he recommitted in the board meeting last December 14. It was on the same day I signified my intention to run for the PHILTA presidency with the vision of making PHILTA a world-class association that will be more inclusive, and will produce world-class tennis players. So it was highly irregular for Col. Andrada to back-track on his announcement to step-down from the presidency. I would like to reiterate the highly questionable nature of col. Andrada’s assumption of The PHILTA presidency:
- When former President Edwin Olivares relinquished the PHILTA Presidency as a requisite of taking public office, the proper line of succession should have installed the then Vice President Randy Villanueva.
- Instead, a snap election was conducted contrary to association rules.
- This snap election was held without observing the prescribed duration of time and prior notice.
These circumstances were actually violative of PHILTA by-laws and renders col. Andrada’s PHILTA presidency invalid and illegitimate. It is precisely for these reasons that the new elections for PHILTA President was slated-through the mediation of the POC & ITF. The POC has in fact been notified that the elections are to be held for the PHILTA presidency.
Because of the foregoing, we have decided not to participate in today’s PHILTA elections which actually covers only the Vice Presidential post and lower positions.
My group is keeping our options open and we’ll take it day by day but for sure, I will continue to support tennis in the Philippines as it is my passion.