THE Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) has leapt to the defense of EJ Obiena.
POC president Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino vowed to champion the cause of the embattled Olympic pole vaulter after the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa) threatened to expel him from its training pool.
"We in the POC will make sure EJ will be in Hanoi and Huangzhou and in all other major world competitions, we’ll fight for EJ," the House deputy speaker said in a strongly worded statement released to the media on Tuesday.
Tolentino's pronouncements were in response to the recommendation made by the Patafa administrative committee to not only drop Obiena as a national athlete but also file criminal charges against him for alleged embezzlement of funds.
He admitted that the move from Patafa didn't really surprise him, saying, "I expected EJ will be dropped from the national team by his NSA as a vengeful act."
In the eyes of the POC, the matter is now in the hands of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), the government's sports agency.
"Will the PSC allow EJ to be stricken off from the national team (SEA Games and Asian Games year)? Will the government allow a world-class athlete to be out of the national team? Will the PSC allow one gold medal to be lost in Huangzhou long before the Asian Games?" Tolentino said.
"Will sports stakeholders — the public, especially, allow EJ to be out of the national team?" the straight-talking POC chief added.
World-class athlete
Obiena, 26, has shown what he's capable of, claiming the Asian record in men's pole vault and currently ranked No. 6 in the world. His 5.93-meter effort last September was ranked by World Athletics as the third best in the world last year.
He is expected to be among the favorites to win the gold medal in men's pole vault in both the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam come May and the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games in Chna come September.
Obiena won the gold medal in the 30th SEA Games in Clark back in 2019, and placed seventh in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.
Tolentino assured Obiena that the POC will have his back in his quest to deliver more glory to the country despite the current controversy he faces in his own federation, saying: "We in the POC will help EJ in his future campaigns."
Although the POC understands the mandate national sports associations (NSAs) like the Patafa have in selecting the national athletes, Tolentino said the Olympic body also has the right to vet for an embattled athlete to continue representing the country in international competitions.
"Of course, the NSA has the right to recommend or not, endorse or not, its athlete/s for international competitions, but there’s a provision in the IOC Charter allowing NOCs to endorse athlete/s.
"But in the absence of an endorsement from a national federation, the organizer/host owns a prerogative to allow embattled athlete/s—the IOC allows refugee athletes to compete in major international competitions (including Olympics)," he stated.
Tolentino highlighted Republic Act No. 6487, stating that the PSC is mandated "to exercise such other acts as are incident to or are appropriate and necessary in connection with the creation of the commission."
"Will the PSC turn its back on this mandate? I don’t think so," he continued. "This is precisely why the PSC is created: to act as the final caretaker of athletes when an oppressive NSA is apparently shutting its doors to world-class athletes."
Tolentino also lashed out at Juico, calling the threat of expulsion as a "vengeful act that shuts down the chances of the Philippines from its Olympic dream."
"The POC has made an early evaluation of this, and I am sorry that we cannot make our cards shown in public. Suffice it to say that we are created for the Olympic dreams of our athletes and we will support our athletes in achieving their dreams."
The POC, upon the recommendation of its ethics committee, previously declared Juico a persona non grata for his conduct towards Obiena, which it argued was "unethical and violative of the provisions of the bylaws of POC specifically on uplifting the level of performance of Filipino athletes."
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