KAMAGANAK Inc., destroying sports in PH!

Dona Victorina joins the Manila Times in questioning what qualified Mr. Babalu, Peping Cojuangco and (Ritchie) Garcia to take command of Philippine sports—aside, of course, from their connection to the President (PNOY)?

President Aquino’s trust ratings remain high largely because most Filipinos still appreciate his efforts toward correcting the wrongs in the country. Where PNoy’s reformist spirit is not being allowed to flourish is in Philippine sports.

The way the recently organized Alliance of Sports Associations and Athletes (ALSA) sees it, “irregularities in national sports have accelerated and intensified” following the installation of new board in the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

The much-publicized controversy that centered on the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation (PDBF)—whose medal-winning contingent has been denied support by both the PSC and the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC)—is symptomatic of the malaise that now afflicts Philippine sports, ALSA leaders said at a recent media forum.

Athletes in other events—including swimming, wrestling, weightlifting, billiards, badminton, among others—are dismayed over the incompetence, pettiness and discriminatory practices of PSC and POC officials. The mounting disaffection with such “sports leaders” as PSC chairman Ritchie Garcia, a PNoy appointee, and POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., a former Tarlac congressman and an uncle of the President’s, has culminated in the formation of ALSA.

At the forum, ex-Sen. Nikki Coseteng and world pool tourney organizer Yen Makabenta said that sports officials and athletes who object to the PSC and POC’s sorry treatment of the nation’s athletes have banded together under ALSA “to seek comprehensive reforms in our national sports system and to stop the nation’s continuing slide in international sports competition.”

The ALSA leaders denounced what they described as “arbitrary rule in our sports system” under the PSC and POC. For one, they accused the PSC under Garcia of abdicating its authority and responsibilities as the “national sports policy-making body” as mandated by Republic Act 6847.

“Instead of doing its duty to lead in the development of sports all over the country, the PSC has subordinated itself to dictation and control by the [POC],” ALSA said in its statement, titled “Daang Matuwid Urgently Needed in Philippine Sports.”

R.A. 6847, ALSA pointed out, gives the POC no authority to recognize national sports associations (NSAs) and to allocate funds for sports development.

Since 2008, the POC under Cojuangco “has not been following its own constitution and by-laws, which were filed and approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Nov. 15, 1990,” ALSA said.

“Instead, it has been using a self-proclaimed set of by-laws, which confers on the POC president and executive board sweeping powers never contemplated in [its] original charter, including the freedom to amend the POC charter as often and as much as it likes.”

In December 2008, Cojuangco and his ticket managed to capture the POC leadership by a slim vote of 21 to 19 among the 40 NSAs. Since then, ALSA said, “all the [19] national sports associations that did not vote for Cojuangco have come under unrelenting reprisal and pressure from [Peping’s] group…”

Some NSAs were “summarily stripped” of their POC membership. “This happened to such major medal winning NSAs like the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation and the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines,” ALSA said.

The POC has also withdrawn recognition of top NSA officers, even those who were legally elected by their respective associations. “NSA elections were interfered with and irregular elections were ordered by the POC, and the POC installed their own preferred leaders at the helm of the NSA,” ALSA said.

“The PSC backed these abusive actions of the POC by denying funding support and assistance to all NSA that were not favored by Cojuangco,” ALSA said. “Irregularly installed leaders with the blessing of the POC have enforced their own arbitrary rule within their respective sports. They have denied recognition to countless Filipino athletes seeking to represent our country in international competition.”

PSC chief Garcia, ALSA charged, “has abetted the actions of the POC out of misguided loyalty to Mr. Cojuangco, who recommended him to his position.”

The POC has brushed aside the clamor for reform in the country’s sports system, claiming that “reform would constitute interference by government with the [POC’s] autonomy.” It warns that government interference would lead to the country’s suspension by the International Olympic Committee.

“This total nonsense and stretches the principle of autonomy to absurdity,” ALSA pointed out. “In its provisions on the mission and role of national Olympic committees, the Olympic Charter explicitly says: ‘In order to fulfill their mission, the [national Olympic committees, such as the POC] may cooperate with governmental bodies, with which they shall achieve harmonious relations. The NOCs may also cooperate with nongovernmental bodies.”

When Cojuangco declared that “no law or court can interfere in POC affairs, he betrayed ignorance of the Olympic Charter and the rule of law,” ALSA said. “The POC is not above the law of the land. The POC is also bound by its constitution and by-laws, as filed and registered with the SEC in 1990.”

In view of all these irregularities and violations, ALSA is seeking a full audit by government auditors of the P1 billion or so in state funds allotted yearly to the PSC. “The time has come for the nation to know where the billions in public money are really going and how they are being spent and by whom,” ALSA said.

The alliance also called for an inquiry into how the PSC has been implementing RA 6847, and whether the POC is abiding by its own constitution and by the Olympic charter.

“We believe that with a full accounting of funds and responsibilities, our people will finally understand why we, a nation of 84 million, are faring so badly in sports,” ALSA concluded.

My question is: What qualified Cojuangco and Garcia to take command of Philippine sports—aside, of course, from their connection to the President?

Maybe that is why Philippine sports now reek of the stench of traditional politics, whose masters are what we call trapos in this country (manila times).