OBIENA CLAIMS TO HAVE OVERPAID HIS COACH
POLE vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena claimed to have overpaid his coach by €5,767 while his mother said she shelled out P600,000 to help her son defray training expenses abroad.
The Olympian on Monday attended the Senate hybrid inquiry on the row involving him and the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa) over the liquidation of his training funds.
The controversy stemmed from the liquidation process issue regarding the payment of training fees to Obiena’s Ukrainian coach Vitaly Petrov and the pole vaulter’s expulsion from the Philippine National Team.
Obiena said he paid Petrov €90,767. But he was supposed to pay him only €85,000.
“I overpaid coach Vitaly Petrov. Yes, he has received more than what was demanded. I did pay Vitaly all the money. But I was late [in paying him].”
His mother, Jeanette, said that at one time, she had to shoulder P600,000 for her son because Patafa told her that it had no funds for EJ’s training allowance.
At that time, Obiena had no money and he was living with Thiago Braz, the Olympic champion who won in the 2016 Olympics. He would do house chores in return.
Obiena said that payments and contracts should be attended to by coaches and other personnel “to avoid additional work for athletes.”
“It also avoids mishandling of funds by any athletes and face false accusations,” he said.
“Liquidation is important and it must be done. But for a full-time athlete living outside the country this process is difficult,” Obiena stressed. “It can be simplified or taken care by an administrative person to let the athletes solely focus on our responsibility of training and competing for the country.”
Noel Silva, Patafa board member and treasurer, said Obiena “is the only Patafa athlete with liquidation issues.”
Silva said that Obiena’s mother “received all checks on behalf of EJ beginning July 25, 2019 including PSC (Philippine Sports Commission) check in the amount of P6.68 million.”
Patafa agreed with Obiena’s proposal to direct the Price Waterhouse and Cooper
to submit its audit report.
It also proposed the “opening of a joint account between the athlete and the NSA (National Sports Association) for transparency.”
Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports, who led the hearing, voiced concern over the “widening” rift between Obiena and Patafa.
“As we dig deeper into the controversy, we must bear in mind that our objective is for us to come up with meaningful recommendations on how to boost the morale of our athletes, improve the performance in their respective fields, foster the relationship between the various organizations and athletes and ultimately raise the bar of Philippine sports,” Go said.
The inquiry was based on Senate Resolution (SR) 955 filed by Sen. Leila de Lima and SR 982 introduced by Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto 3rd and Sen. Pia Cayetano.
Cayetano stressed the need for legislation to ensure the welfare of Filipino athletes and sports development in the Philippines.
She said athletes should not be burdened with administrative tasks as they should be left to focus on their training and competitions.
“You have assistants to liquidate your expenses for you...and we expect our national athlete, who trains eight to 12 hours a day, who lives alone [in] a different time zone, to liquidate on the spot,” she said.
“And if he doesn’t, he’s a bad person? And he deserves to be insulted, deserves to be threatened, to be taken out of a sport that he dedicated his life to? Is that how we treat our national athletes?” Cayetano asked.
Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa voiced hope that the row between Obiena and Patafa will be resolved.
“We hope to come up with a fair resolution through legislation or executive issuance to prevent a repeat of this controversy. May we aspire to further ensure the welfare of our athletes, promote sports to our fellow Filipinos and aspire to bring honor to our country,” dela Rosa said.
Go noted that over the course of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, “we have witnessed the exemplary performance of the Philippines in various international sports competitions.”