Phl paddlers unfazed by money questions

SWEET SUCCESS: The victory of the racing team of the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation in the world championships in Tampa, Florida, is made even sweeter by the way they handled financial problems that had threatened to pull them down.

The team members are mostly simple wage-earners drawn from the military. To them, every peso that went into their training was the equivalent of gold.

They did not allow what they called “the lack of transparency and accountability in the management of our club funds by the officers” to dampen their morale or disturb their training.

It was only on Aug. 8, days after they came home from Tampa with five gold medals and two silvers, that they unburdened to the Philippine Olympic Committee their misgivings about the management of their club’s finances.

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COMPLAINT: In a letter to the POC, 10 team members complained that since the PDBF’s incorporation in 2003 until 2008, its officers had refused to give them an audited financial statement.

It was only last June, when their demand for a financial report was reiterated, that the 2009 and 2010 statements were flushed out. These points were noted:

• Total expense in 2009 was P1.8 million, of which P1.3 million was categorized as “miscellaneous” and P264,000 was spent for operations.

• Also in 2009, expenses included P27,000 and P25,000 for “legal” matters about which some members claimed to be in the dark.

• In 2010, the receipts for Cobra (energy drink) for the second quarter race was only P80,000. But members claimed that based on the first and the third quarter races the receipts should have been P160,000.

The letter mentioned other fund-raising activities and commercial sponsorships whose accounting the members want done before more donations come in.

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GOOD NEWS: Despite the money issues, we always feel good hearing news of Filipino victories in international sports, such as that of boxing legend Manny Pacquiao and our dragon boat teams that dominated the Tampa races.

It was only fitting that President Noynoy Aquino rewarded them with a presidential citation. Maybe a financial reward is also appropriate, considering that the victorious crew is not the national team supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.

This ugly truth does not diminish the team’s triumph in any way. But it does underscore the sad fact that politics rears its head even in the sports arena.

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NOT-SO-GOOD NEWS: The team that won in Tampa is under the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation, the local association of the International Dragon Boat Federation.

However, the International Olympic Committee has placed dragon boat racing under Olympic canoeing. This may be because the IDBF is not an accredited international sports federation and dragon boat racing is not yet an Olympic sport.

Thus, the recognized national sport association should be the Philippine Canoe and Kayak Federation.

The PDBF was stripped of its POC accreditation that allowed its rowing teams to compete in IOC-sanctioned events, such as the Southeast Asian Games, the Asian Games and the Olympics.

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A TEAM DIVIDED: Members of PDBF were asked to join the PCKF so they can continue receiving emoluments from the state sports agency. Most of them did and a national team is now training for the SEA Games in Jakarta this November.

Some top paddlers, however, stayed with the association and their government stipends were stopped. They said they were happy enough in PDBF, which has helped them win in international competitions.

The PDBF also stopped receiving PSC assistance, which amounted to P10 million last year. Fortunately, it was able to get the Lucio Tan group and Cobra energy drink to sponsor the team in its last outing.

But how come the team reportedly still had to beg for food from the Filipino community in Florida during the championship?

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THE BLAME GAME: The situation has sparked a pick-and-roll blame game, another national sport in its own right.

Legislators are threatening congressional inquiries into what actually happened, although the POC is a private non-profit organization.

Lawmakers may have thought of that when they passed the hat and raised P1.4 million for PDBF. Never mind that some opposition congressmen grabbed the chance to snipe at the Aquino administration as if the POC were a government line agency.

At least the play-by-play shows that our team did not suffer in Florida because of lack of government support, but because PDBF lost its accreditation as a national sports association.

And that happened not because of any governmental oversight, but because of their international confederation’s decision.

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IOC OUTSIDER: The PDBF president, Marcia Cristobal, has admitted that they cannot join IOC-sanctioned events because the International Dragon Boat Federation is not yet an IOC member.

That may soon change, however, when the international federation’s application for IOC membership is accepted since it already has the required minimum of 80 member-countries.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons why some PDBF athletes chose not to join the PCKF even though it meant losing their government stipends.

But that does not change the fact that we do have another national dragon boat racing team also deserving of support.

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LEVERAGE: The PDBF team’s victory in Florida has given the federation leverage in regaining its NSA status. While their detractors may disparage them, it is hard to play down the seven medals they won in the world championship.

The PDBF appears to have generated enough public sympathy that can translate to financial support for the team’s sorties in South Korea, Singapore and Shanghai next month and the Asian Championships and Club Crew World Championships next year.

The Florida wins do not only boost the sport but also helps PDBF slice through the sea of problems roiled by politics.

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