MONICO Puentevella and Abraham 'Bambol' Tolentino lost out in their bids for a seat in the Philippine Olympic Committee last year, but both had rousing victories in the just-concluded midterm elections.
Puentevella was elected mayor of Bacolod City, beating Thaddy Sayson for the post while Tolentino was successful in his bid for a congressional seat in the seventh district of Cavite where he beat three candidates that included former representative Gilbert Remulla.
Puentevella and Tolentino came out winners in the local polls after failing in their respective bids in the POC elections last November where 43 national sports associations cast their votes for 10 positions.
Puentevella, who is also the president of the Philippine Weightlifting Federation, sought a fresh mandate as POC chairman but lost to triathlon chief Tom Carrasco, 21-18.
Aside from weightlifting, the former Bacolod City representative who is called 'Nyuks' by his peers is also a member of the Philippine Football Federation marketing and television committee and was once a commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission.
Meanwhile, Tolentino, a longtime mayor of Tagaytay City, also ran for the POC second vice-president post but the Philcycling chief was handily beaten by soft tennis head Jeff Tamayo, 24-15.
Tolentino, brother of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino, is also the secretary-general of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines.
In the same POC election where Puentevella and Tolentino lost, Jose 'Peping' Cojuangco ran unopposed as he received a fresh four-year mandate as president of the national Olympic body. Cojuangco has headed the POC president since 2004.
Incidentally, Cojuangco’s wife Tingting also ran for a Senate seat but is well outside the so-called “Magic 12” in the initial tabulation of votes.
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