Like many aspects of national life, it’s not the people who are to blame, it’s our so-called leaders, who have pulled us down into the depths of mediocrity... PSC Chairman Richie Garcia in explaining the SEA Games debacle, claimed that our preparations were not good, since we found it difficult to gather our best athletes in some regions, because of the limited communication facilities… We wonder what Mr. Manny Pangilinan of PLDT-Smart thinks about Garcia’s statement.
PSC Chairman Richie Garcia - KAPAL MUKS
IF our sports leaders, not just the heads of the non-performing National Sports Associations, but the top dogs at the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee, have any sense of propriety left in them, they should all resign following the country’s disastrous performance in the 26th Southeast Asian Games.
PSC Chairman Richie Garcia, whose infamous quip that if our world Dragon Boat champions didn’t wish to be under the Canoe-Kayak Federation, they could go back to eating “tahong” harvested from Manila Bay, once again demonstrated his unworthiness to head the PSC with a ridiculous statement in Indonesia.
Garcia in explaining the SEA Games debacle, claimed that our preparations were not good, since we found it difficult to gather our best athletes in some regions, because of the limited communication facilities such as Internet and telephone.
We wonder what Mr. Manny Pangilinan of PLDT-Smart thinks about Garcia’s statement. Blaming a giant corporation that has moved our communications facilities into the modern age for the dismal failure of the PSC and the POC among others, is the height of both folly and ingratitude. Mr. Manny Pangilinan has been the most committed and passionate supporter of Philippine sports, allotting millions of pesos into helping our athletes in various disciplines.
All Garcia has to do is to look at the 4 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal produced in boxing to realize that our respected friends Ricky Vargas, president of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines, executive director Ed Picson and secretary general Pato Gregorio had no communications problems, neither did the coaches have trouble communicating with our boxers.
What clearly is a curse in Philippine sports that has seen us retrogress through the recent years is the mindless internal strife and the politically motivated actions of our sports leaders.
How will Garcia and POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco defend the miserable performance of our swimmers under Mark Joseph, who received some P30 million directly from Pagcor’s former head Ephraim Genuino in flagrant violation of rules and regulations but flopped big time? Shouldn’t Joseph, who has acted like a small-time dictator at the Philippine Aquatic Sports Association, resign?
In stark and welcome contrast, the ABAP quietly and efficiently pursued a training program using much of the resources of Mr. Pangilinan and PLDT-Smart and came home with 4 gold medals, 1 silver and 1 bronze with clear indications that we were at the receiving end of unfair decisions in the fights of Nesthy Petecio and Mark Anthony Barriga. Yet, ABAP won six medals from 10 boxers. Now that’s a performance worth commending.
Even in athletics, while we won only 2 gold medals and a fistful of silvers and bronzes and didn’t win as many golds as expected, part of the blame must surely be shared by the POC officials, including Cojuangco, Steve Hontiveros, Joseph and their clique, who violated every tenet of due process and the rule of law in their relentless campaign to oust Go Teng Kok, who has headed athletics for 21 years and gave us the biggest medal haul in the 2009 SEA Games in Laos.
While Go and his lawyer, chess player Sammy Estimo, were battling in court to get an injunction to stop the POC, which they succeeded in doing, our athletes were in limbo, bothered by the absence of their president, who has looked after them well through the years. Their training disrupted and their minds bothered, but our athletes performed quite well, given the circumstances.
The Philippines has a population of an estimated 94 million, while Singapore has only 3.8 million yet we were humiliated by this small island state and shoved into sixth place, our worst finish imaginable with Malaysia finishing fourth, banking on a population of just over 28 million.
Like many aspects of national life, it’s not the people who are to blame, it’s our so-called leaders, who have pulled us down into the depths of mediocrity. Once way ahead of our neighbors, including Taiwan and South Korea, the Philippines now struggles to regain some measure of success. Given the disastrous showing in Indonesia, common decency demands that our sports leaders resign
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