PCF to sue Torre, NCFP for ‘grand-scale deception’

The Philippine Chess Federation said it will file a damage suit against Grandmaster Eugene Torre and company with the National Chess Federation of the Philippines for having made a "grand-scale deception" in a bid to become the country’s sole governing chess body.

PCF counsel Florante Arceo Bautista wrote a letter to the Philippine Sports Commission Monday, requesting the government sports body to withdraw its earlier recognition of the NCFP and implement a resolution granting financial assistant to the PCF to defray the expenses of the RP team in the coming Chess Olympiad in Turkey.

Bautista said the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and the PSC have been "taken for a ride" by the NCFP and "this will be the subject matter of the PCF’s damage suit against Torre and his co-conspirators."

Bautista cited a certification from the Security and Exchange Commission, showing the NCFP is a non-entity because it is not even registered with the SEC either as a corporation or as a partnership.

"Since the NCFP has no legal personality and is, therefore, a fictitious organization, it cannot be validly granted recognition by the POC or the PSC as the sole NSA (national sports association) for the sport of chess in the country," said Bautista.

Furthermore, Bautista said the matter of the NCFP’s purported affiliation with the International Chess Federation (FIDE) is already being dealt with by the PCF in accordance with the FIDE Statutes.

Bautista added: "The Fide Presidential Board, apparently, has likewise been the victim of GM Torre and Company’s grand-scale deception."

A FIDE legal expert from the Norwegian Chess Federation, Morten Sand, earlier said the FIDE granted the NCFP only a "provisional admittance" and the "final admittance" will only be pronounced by the FIDE General Assembly when it convenes Nov. 3.

Meanwhile, although the NCFP announced that the Organizing Committee of the Istanbul Chess Olympiad (OCICO) has shut the door on the PCF, the latter is confident it can resolve the problem, thus keeping its participation in the chessfest slated Oct. 27-Nov. 12.

The PCF said they are ready to challenge the OCICO’s move.

At the same time, PCF president Jesus Ingeniero called the attention of the Commission on Audit, saying "the liquidation documents submitted by Torre in connection with the 1992 Manila Chess Olympiad was either spurious or based on documents which were inexistent."

In a letter to COA chairman Celso Gangan, Ingeniero attached a copy of a Special Audit Office letter to Torre, "demanding the chess player to refund to the PSC the amount of P5,555,000 and/or submit to this commission a detailed accounting covering the liquidation of the subject amount."

"Considering that this involved public funds, for which the public has the right to know and, considering further that Mr. Toirre is now in the front line taking active participation in chess, we are constrained to make this inquiry," said Ingeniero.