As a result of the unsettled dispute between ace pole-vaulter Ernest John (EJ) Uy-Obiena and the Philippine Track and Field Association, (Patafa), his national sports association (NSA), the country missed the chance to join the World Indoor Championship in Belgrade, Serbia next week and lost an opportunity to win honors for the Philippines.
Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Sports, could only lament on the sad event. He said that because of the conflict, “we have lost a chance to win another honor for the country in the field of sports.” “What has now happened to our battle cry, ‘We win as one?”
The Dabawenyo legislator has urged the Patafa and Obiena to talk and agree to join in the mediation of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) which was tasked to lead it.
Knowing the disunity and other problems that bedeviled the country’s sports community for the longest time, we strongly suggest that the authorities and stakeholders in this country, including incoming officials in the legislative and executive branches of the government, to call for a summit to review the rules and regulations of sports with the end in review of instituting reforms to correct the injusticies, favoritism, corruption and other evils, much ballyhooed in the past, among NSAs.
If our recollection is accurate, the raging controversy between Patafa and Obiena started from an investigation by Patafa of Obiena’s alleged failure to pay in time the allowances of his foreign coach. To begin with, Patafa could not have legally assigned Obiena to do a cashiering job if it was only prohibited in the first place. Similar incidents in the future could be avoided if only there are rules that prohibit the same. We also need rules that would prevent Obiena from accepting a cashiering assignment. This and other restrictions could be imposed across all national sports associations to prevent NSAs from committing abuses. These could preclude a repeat of an Obiena-Patafa dispute in the future.
