FOUR senators have asked that the chief of the Philippine Track and Field Association (PATAFA), including 17 of its board of directors, be cited for contempt for refusing to settle its differences with pole vault record holder Ernest John “EJ” Obiena.
Senators Pia Cayetano, Francis Tolentino, Ping Lacson and Senate President Vicente Sotto III filed the motion to cite the PATAFA board for contempt.
Their letter was sent yesterday to the office of Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports.
In their motion, the four senators said that the board of the country’s track and field association, including its president Philip Ella Juico, should be cited for contempt because it did not follow the order of the Senate Committee on Sports to settle their spat and reconcile with Obiena.
It was learned that during the committee hearing last February 7, the committee ordered the PATAFA and Obiena to sit down and participate in mediation proceedings to be president by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
That was after Obiena showed proof that he already paid his coach in full and the sports funds were already liquidated and received although a bit delayed.
Despite the order of the senators for the two camps to sit down and talk, and four days after the committee or February 11, the PATAFA filed a complaint against Obiena at the Court of Arbitration for Sport om Switzerland.
The senators said the act by the PATAFA and its board meant they are closing the doors for any settlement, and even distracted Obiena, who should now be deep in training, and the PATAFA even refused to endorse Obiena’s participation in the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam, the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, and other international competitions.