Chess case verdict today

The fate of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines-backed RP squad will be known today when the Makati Regional Trial Court decides on the petition by the Philippine Chess Federation for a Temporary Restraining Order in a bid to stop the NCFP chessers from participating in the World Chess Olympiad slated this week in Turkey.

Presiding Judge Ricardo Rosario of Makati RTC Branch 66 yesterday accepted the formal offer or complaint by the PCF and a seven-page document by the respondents, represented by NCFP counsel Sammy Estimo.

"As the court takes consideration of the two parties’ pieces of evidence, eventually we could say the court could issue a decision resolving the petition for a TRO by the petitioner by tomorrow (today)," said Rosario.

PCF legal counsel Florante Bautista presented yesterday a 23-page document amplifying the PCF’s stand on its petition for a TRO against the breakaway group NCFP.

"There was a more exhaustive exposition of the background of the circumstances for this supposed recognition granted by the Philippine Olympic Committee which apparently has no legal papers since the NCFP was not in existence at the time it allegedly applied for one," Bautista said.

Bautista also noted that the defense witness, NCFP president GM Eugene Torre, was being evasive in his statements during the hearing.

"He (Torre) kept on throwing the bulk of the questions to his lawyer because he himself does not know what’s happening around him which is a very sad state since he is the leader of the NCFP," said Bautista.

Torre’s group, led by GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr., had already left for Turkey last Thursday, while the PCF-backed squad is scheduled to leave tomorrow. The Olympiad is slated Oct. 27-Nov. 12.

According to Bautista, the PCF is hoping that the court could grant its petition for a TRO because of the injustices done to it, particularly the questionable manner the POC has granted conditional recognition on the NCFP, disregarding the status of the PCF as the governing body for RP chess the past 43 years.