WORLD-CLASS pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena’s issue with the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association has been elevated to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), prompting the Philippine Olympic Committee to question the motive behind the filing of the case that it described as breaching integrity and putting a damper on a Philippine Senate-led effort to extinguish the crisis through a domestic effort.
“So what happened to the truce forged through the Senate? The mediation that both parties–Obiena and the Patafa — agreed on before our honorable Senators?” POC President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said yesterday after the POC Executive Board’s special meeting on the CAS case.
Patafa President Philip Ella Juico filed a “statement of appeal” with the Lausanne-based CAS last February 11, with the POC and Obiena as respondents. Juico filed the case four days after the Senate hearing where Obiena finally agreed to mediation and the Patafa declaring the same.
“Where’s the good faith there?” Tolentino asked. “The POC thought they [Patafa] were for mediation and even EJ already agreed to the procedure.”
Tolentino added: “Filing a complaint against Obiena and the POC means the Patafa is included in the complaint because Patafa is a member of the organization.”
The Executive Board, in a hybrid meeting at the Knights Templar Ridge Hotel in Tagaytay City, authorized Tolentino to hire a lawyer and appoint a CAS juror, as well as appropriate still undetermined fees for the defense.
All except POC Chairman Steve Hontiveros and First Vice President Al Panlilio attended the meeting, with Atty. Charlie Ho of netball, who ran under Juico’s ticket in the November 2020 POC elections, filing the motion for the appropriation of lawyers and CAS fees.
According to POC Chief Legal Counsel Atty. Wharton Chan, Juico filed the complaint through his lawyers, the Aranas Cruz Araneta Parker & Faustino Law Offices. The complaint cited the POC’s breach of jurisdiction on the Obiena issue, dismissal of the case Obiena filed with the POC through its Athletes Commission and withdrawal of the persona non grata sanction on Juico.
Chan said the POC could not be cited on issues over jurisdiction on the Obiena case, saying “the POC is not a judicial body but a corporate one and the focal issue is on the attitude and unethical conduct” on Obiena’s complaint of harassment against the Patafa.
