Chua off hook but PASA suspects foul play

Philippine Amateur Swimming Association (PASA) secretary-general Chito Rivera said yesterday Olympic qualifier Timmy Chua is assisting in gathering information on how five Filipinos managed to participate in a recent Hong Kong competition as members of an unsanctioned national team.

Rivera told The Star that in a meeting in Makati last Friday, the PASA Board designated lawyer Bernadeth Abejo, president of the National Capital Region Swimming Association, to head a fact-finding committee to investigate the anomaly and apparent case of misrepresentation. The committee is made up of three parents, a coach and a retired athlete representative with no ties to any of the swimmers involved.

Rivera said the committee’s findings will not impact on Chua’s participation in the Athens Games.

Chua, 22, is the only Manila-based tanker among five Filipino swimmers bound for the Olympics. The others in the team live in the US. They are Miguel Molina, Miguel Mendoza, James Bernard Walsh and Jaclyn Pangilinan.

Rivera said PASA was not informed of the Hong Kong qualifying competition. The invitation to compete was sent to a former PASA official who then assembled a team of five swimmers for the final Olympic qualifiers. The tankers were Chua, Jenny Guerrero, Gem Ong, Benjie Uy and Jorge Dy.

Of the five, Chua was the only Olympic qualifier, clocking 1:04.93 in the 100-meter breaststroke event. He earned the Athens ticket as a B qualifier where a country is entitled to send a single swimmer for an event. The qualifying time for the B category is lower than the tougher A category where a country is permitted to send two swimmers for an event.

Rivera explained that if PASA had known about the Hong Kong qualifying competition, more swimmers would’ve been sent. He named Gerard Bordado, Marichi Gandiongco, Luica Dacanay, Lizza Danila and Mark Kalaw as prospects who were deprived of the opportunity to compete because information appeared to have been deliberately kept from PASA.

Rivera said Dr. Gloria Chua reported her son’s Hong Kong result to PASA and understood the implications of the failure to obtain sanction from the governing body.

"No swimmer can claim to be part of a national team without PASA’s sanction," said Rivera. "The rule book is very clear in that PASA must certify a national swimmer’s participation. In Timmy’s case, there seemed to be misrepresentation because a printout from the Hong Kong organizers identified the swimmers to be part of the Philippine team. However, we were furnished a contradicting document from Hong Kong saying Timmy competed as an unattached swimmer. This has serious repercussions because if we just close our eyes on this issue, what will prevent others from presenting themselves as national swimmers in future competitions without PASA sanction?"

Chua’s father Rey is the National Capital Region director for the Department of Tourism and mother, a dentist, said they will abide by PASA’s recommendation on how to deal with the issue.

Chua himself has volunteered to assist the fact-finding committee as a "state witness." He sent a letter of apology to PASA which welcomed the gesture. — Joaquin Henson