The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) Sunday welcomed the call of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) for a truce among sports leaders as the country is revving up its preparations for the 25th Southeast Asian Games.

“Peace has long been aspired by everybody. But a call for peace should be backed by peaceful actions,” said POC spokesperson Joey Romasanta, reacting to PSC chairman Harry Angping’s appeal to sports stakeholders to lay down their arms for the sake of the athletes.

The POC said peace can easily be achieved “if only we (at the POC) and they (at the PSC) are allowed to do what we’re supposed to do.”

“If that can be done, wala tayong pag-aawayan,” said Romasanta, citing he doesn’t even see the logic behind the decision to get into loggerheads with a funding agency like the PSC.

“Why would we (the POC) quarrel with a funding agency?”

The PSC and the POC have been at odds over almost every major issue concerning the athletes and with less than a month before the SEAG gets off the ground on Dec. 9 in Vientiane, Laos, their leaders are still arguing over the size of the delegation.

The POC wants a slightly bigger number than the 150 that the PSC said it will fund, saying the over 200 athletes named by the POC made the grade.

Despite the bleak outlook for a truce, Romasanta is keeping his fingers crossed that, even for one, brief shining moment, the PSC and the POC would b