By Bilyonaryo staff
Businessman Alberto “Albert” de Larrazabal edged former Globe Telecom chief Ernest Cu by just 10 votes to top the Manila Polo Club board election as the self-styled reform slate captured four of the five seats at stake.
De Larrazabal received 704 votes against Cu’s 694 in the Aug. 24 balloting, a close finish in a race that drew attention after Cu emerged as a high-profile challenger and potential contender for the club presidency.
The battle for the fifth and final seat was even tighter.
Rachel “Chinky” Remulla-Shah finished with 606 votes, beating incumbent trustee Dobbin Tan by just four votes and denying a five-member reform slate a clean sweep.
Felicia “Feli” Hung-Atienza placed third with 677 votes, followed by veteran corporate lawyer Agustin “Gus” Montilla IV with 667.
Architect Conrad Onglao, the fifth member of the reform slate, finished seventh with 557 votes.
The official tally also showed an unusually large uncast component. Of 6,000 votes reflected in the count, 1,493, or 24.88%, were classified as “uncast,” while 4,507 were distributed among the seven candidates.
De Larrazabal, Cu, Hung-Atienza, Montilla and Onglao had campaigned together on a platform supporting the club’s West Side Project while seeking stronger transparency and financial controls over major club decisions.
The group said it supported upgrading Manila Polo’s aging western facilities but wanted greater disclosure of budgets, contracts and awarded bids, tighter procurement and conflict-of-interest policies, and clearer limits on projects the board could approve without broader membership consent.
Remulla-Shah, sister of Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla and Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, was the only candidate outside the slate to win.
Tan, meanwhile, was the only incumbent trustee seeking another term and missed reelection by the narrowest margin of the contest.
The focus now shifts from the membership vote to the boardroom.
Manila Polo members elect the trustees, but the trustees themselves choose the club’s officers, including the president.
Cu had been talked about during the campaign as a possible candidate for president. His comfortable election to the board keeps that possibility alive, even after De Larrazabal narrowly beat him for the most votes from members.—Bilyonaryo.com
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