THE Board of Trustees of the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association has advised pole vaulter Ernest John (EJ) Obiena to submit to mediation that will be presided over by the Philippine Sports Commission.
In a joint statement on behalf of the board, Patafa Chairman and Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez and federation president Philip Ella Juico, said that “if Obiena wants to put order in his relationship with his own NSA and continue training…he should seriously consider going into mediation.”
Rodriguez and Juico added that Obiena, 26, “is a stranger to and not familiar with serious legal proceedings that will require his time, to dig up critical documents and to appear in inquiries while resources he needs for his training, coach, support staff and accommodation are in serious jeopardy.”
Rodriguez and Juico appeared recently in a hearing of the House Committee on Youth and Sports Development investigating the allegations made by Patafa that Obiena failed to hand over the salary of his coach, Vitaly Petrov, given by the Philippine Sports Commission and coursed through Patafa, on time.
Obiena had threatened to quit if Patafa refused to retract its allegations.
During the hearing, Rodriguez urged Obiena to come clean as “he was only digging his own grave” by not explaining the documents and bringing up a case of harassment against Juico before the House and the Ethics Committee of the Philippine Olympic Committee.
Juico has questioned the jurisdiction of the POC over an internal matter since Obiena is a member of the Patafa.
The PSC had initially given Obiena and the Patafa until Dec. 15 to submit to mediation but later moved the deadline to another date.
