Chessers, arbiters file charges vs NCFP execs

Grandmaster Joey Antonio led a group of players and arbiters who sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation on Thursday to look into charges of falsification of public documents allegedly committed by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines.

Named in the complaint were relieved National Chess Federation of the Philippines secretary —general Sammy Estimo and former executive director Gene Poliarco, who attested to the NCFP liquidation report sent to the Philippine Sports Commission to justify the P1,128,000 assistance it gave to the NCFP in 2002.

In the report dated Aug. 28, 2002, members of the national team that competed in the 2002 World Chess Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia reportedly got P90,000 as training allowance for the event, with their respective signatures contained in the document.

However, Antonio, fellow GM Bong Villamayor, International Master Nelson Mariano II and Woman Fide Master Sheerie Joy Lomibao, who all competed in the Bled event, filed affidavits that they did not receive a single centavo of the allowance.

Antonio and Villamayor also swore that the signatures in the liquidation report were not theirs.

Joining Antonio at the NBI were Mariano, international arbiter Rolando Yutuc and national arbiters Roberto "Bobby" Bautista and Joey Moseros.

Yutuc, Bautista and Moseros were also named in the liquidation report submitted by the NCFP where it stated P170,000 of the PSC assistance went to honoraria for their services as technical staff in the National Chess Championship held March 18 to May 6 of the same year.

Bautista, who issued the sworn statement on behalf of the group, said he only received P10,000 from the NCFP or P5,000 short of the amount indicated in the liquidation report.

He stressed that the signature on the paper was also not his "so I presumed that my signature was forged."

Bautista said he believed that Estimo may have had a hand in the falsified document "since all papers pass through him (Estimo) prior to its turnover to the PSC."

Yutuc swore he only received P15,000 although P20,000 was indicated in the report.