Ricky’s first big test

When Ricky Vargas took over the presidency of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) from Peping Cojuangco earlier this year, I knew and am sure Ricky knew too that he will be facing a lot of challenges including the preparation for next year’s SEA Games, the divided National Sports Associations in tennis, volleyball, dragon boat, bowling, just to cite a few, and what to do with the ex-POC officials who are still NSA officers.

And from the way it looks, his big test now is what to do with Joey Romasanta, once a very powerful figure in the POC as an ally of Peping. He heads the Philippine Karate Federation (PKF) and volleyball too, which by itself was being questioned already, but it is the mess in karate that is proving to be the bigger headache.

Backtracking a little, a group of national athletes in karate finally came out in the open and exposed what they claimed to be corrupt practices in the PKF. They were very specific and complete with details, saying that before the 29th SEA Games, the team was sent to Netherlands for training. But there was hardly any training for them as no tournaments were going on that time, and that it was too close to the SEA Games already when they returned.

The bombshell though was in the allegations of the athletes that they only received 400 euros each as allowance and had to scrimp on all their transport and meal expenses, only to know later that the allocated allowance per athlete was 1,800 euros each. But they were forced to sign a voucher that they received the full amount.

The athletes said this had been a practice even in the past but with the wind of changes in the local world of sports, the athletes finally decided to come out and expose all of these shenanigans going on in their NSA. I have been in the world of sports for a long time so I am not surprised that this is happening in karate. But believe me, it happens also in other associations and I got it straight from the athletes themselves.

But they were afraid of the consequences if they talk and testify, as they have seen in the past athletes being taken out of the national team for complaining about these corrupt practices.

PSC Commissioner Mon Fernandez was instrumental in encouraging athletes to be more open and inform the PSC on these practices where public money is involved, as allowances of national athletes come from the government through the PSC, and in fact even before the international karate federation made its move, the PSC already suspended the PKF but continued its support for the athletes.

The shock to Joey and his group came later, and by the way, Joey washed his hands off about the allegations saying everything was legal and above board regarding the expenses, that all the money was spent for the training, so how come the athletes complained? Personally, with what I have heard from very reliable sources, Joey has done questionable acts involving funds and still had unliquidated funds I think for volleyball. According to Mon too, the PKF has unpaid dues to WKF amounting to 4,000 euros.

Anyway, the WKF sent its representative here to investigate the case raised against the PKF, and WKF EXCOM member Vincent Chen submitted his findings to his Board. The decision, signed by Antonio Espinos, WKF President, was to disaffiliate the PKF, withdrawing international recognition effective immediately, leaving the PKF unrecognized by both its IF and the PSC.

Under pressure to express its position on the matter, Ricky, after a meeting with the Olympic Council of Asia in Bangkok saying he will take note of the action taken by the WKF and that the POC, will set things right in the beleaguered NSA, even mentioning that the WKF has said in its letter that it is willing to hear again the side of the PKF in its forthcoming World Congress.

This has led to criticisms leveled against Ricky for seemingly not taking a more direct action against Romasanta, with some quarters insinuating that there is a deal on the POC political side that has led to this unclear situation for the PKF as far as the POC is concerned.

I will still give the benefit of the doubt to Ricky that in the end, he will do what has to be done. For me, corrupt NSA officials and coaches should get the boot period, and in this case, Joey and his group should get the boot then.