Patafa moves on; EJ case is ‘closed’

AS far as the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa) is concerned, its dispute with Olympian pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena is already a closed case.

“The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association moves on,” Patafa opened in a statement on Friday.

“The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) has reaffirmed its commitment to mediation, a commitment we share; the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) has again railroaded the persona non grata proceedings against our Patafa president, to whom the entire Board, reiterated its support; the Commission on Audit (CoA) is conducting a special audit of transactions involving EJ Obiena and the Patafa Committee has completed its investigations and submitted its recommendations to the Patafa Board and has given its findings to PSC in compliance with the latter’s request. All these are events of the past and belong to history.”

Patafa, led by its president Philip Ella Juico and chairman Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, said that it is now shifting its attention to the other athletes and members of its organization.

“Patafa therefore chooses to move on. There’s so much work to be done and attention that needs to be given to our more than 50 athletes, coaches and other stakeholders. All of them need to be given the same proportionate opportunities provided to an exclusive circle,” the statement said.

“Our athletes continue to train for the forthcoming SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, the Asian Games in China. We just finished our national championship last year in Baguio City, unfazed by the challenges of the pandemic. We continue to push forward with our Kids Athletics and coaching education seminars. We have proposed to PSC that seven

SEA Games gold and silver medalists be sent to the Chula Vista training camp in San Diego, California and benefit from the high level of regular competitions missing in our part of the world but so essential to podium finishes.”

Patafa said that it made efforts to bring Obiena to the negotiating table but the Olympian did not return the favor, something that the organization respects.

Patafa claimed that it gave Obiena three chances (November 29, December 5 and December 11) to explain his side regarding his alleged falsification of liquidation reports as well as the misappropriation of money intended for the compensation of his coach Vitaly Petrov but the Olympian did not show up. Obiena, instead, filed a harassment complaint against Juico before the POC which eventually led to the declaration of Juico as persona non grata.

That decision was affirmed on January 26 during POC’s general assembly, when 36 of the POC’s 54 members voted in favor of the ethics committee’s recommendation. “With respect to Mr. Ernest John Obiena, he has chosen to remove himself from the jurisdiction of Patafa. He decided to align, work with and avail himself of total support purportedly guaranteed by his patrons, agents and political backers. They are expected to support his training, maintenance, medical needs and compliance with requirements of tournament organizers,” said Patafa.

“We tried to talk to him and settle issues with him three times and made ourselves available for PSC’s mediation efforts. But he spurned all these efforts even saying that we were entering the mediation in bad faith. He took a different path, preferring to do things his way which we will respect.”

On January 11, Patafa formally agreed to participate in the mediation offered by the PSC but Obiena, on January 24, officially backed out from it, saying that Patafa is acting in “bad faith.”

Obiena was alluding to Patafa’s intention to drop him from the national pool and file an estafa case against him.

While Patafa considers its issue with Obiena as water under the bridge, the association said that it is still compelled to pursue legal options against Obiena.

“Even as Patafa considers this Obiena case closed, with the CoA doing a special audit, the Patafa is constrained by law and policies to pursue legal options as identified by the committee which investigated the allegations against him. This responsibility falls on our shoulders. We wish Mr. Obiena Godspeed and success in his endeavors,” concluded the statement signed by Juico and Rodriguez.