Wrestlers up in arms

There is unrest in the Wrestling Association of the Philippines (WAP) but the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is fence-sitting because elections are just around the corner and every vote counts.

As an accredited National Sports Association (NSA), the WAP will count for one vote in the polls.

Last Sept. 28, the WAP convened its National Council with chairman Noli Espejo presiding after a roll call confirmed the attendance of the majority of the membership at the wrestling gym in the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. WAP president Vincent Piccio was also present. Secretary-general Jetro Lozada was absent.

A discussion ensued about promised mats that were never delivered. A Misamis Oriental coach brought up the issue. Espejo said the reason for the failure of delivery was the WAP had not received its P5 million share from the General Appropriations Act.

Three-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Marcus Valda then sought permission from Espejo to move on to the next item in the agenda, the election of officers. But before anything else, Valda asked the Council to take a vote of no confidence against the WAP leadership. All the members of the Council agreed to the vote except Espejo and Piccio.

A heated debate followed about recognition of the quorum. Espejo said he would not recognize a quorum and walked out with Piccio. With 23 votes of no confidence constituting two-thirds of the National Council membership, Karlo Sevilla nominated Valda to preside in the meeting in Espejo’s place. The nomination was carried by the majority.

Subsequently, new officers were chosen – Albert Balde as president, Valda as vice president, Alvin Aguilar as treasurer and Kandice Mallonga as auditor. The election was supervised by Erwin Marinas and conducted through secret balloting. Sevilla was later appointed secretary-general.

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The new officers went on to approve these resolutions – to request POC recognition, to work for the immediate release of promised funds, to issue overdue allowances to coaches and trainers, to prioritize buying and issuing of mats to Cagayan de Oro and the Misamis Oriental wrestling teams, to be transparent and open to all members regarding finances, to award the rights to host the 2008 Fourth Quarter National Open Championships to the Ifugao State College of Agriculture and Forestry in December, to elect or appoint the other WAP officers no later than Dec. 31, to appoint Aguilar as chairman of the WAP Grappling Committee and to draft a program with the objective of winning an Olympic gold medal in the 2012 London Games.

Aguilar said the POC was notified of the National Council meeting but no representative attended. Meanwhile, the POC is taking a status quo position on the WAP, meaning it continues to recognize Espejo and Piccio, ignoring the clamor of the majority of the National Council – until the electoral proceedings are investigated after its own polls next month.

Valda said the time has come to clean up the WAP.

“I have been going and training with the Philippine team for 10 years and not once did I ever see the WAP officials,” said Valda. “All I saw were athletes working and training for almost nothing. They never had shoes, those that had shoes were almost always just taped up. They wouldn’t have their own uniforms and their allowances were always slashed. They were routinely made to sign on a blank paper. Most of the wrestlers hardly finished high school so they just readily agreed. Those that had guts to speak out were either taken out of the team regardless of skill or potential and achievements or would have cases filed against them in their military unit. This is because some athletes are active in the service.

“This has been going on for years that they are threatened or scared to just go along with what they want. It’s about time somebody spoke out and helped them. We can really excel in wrestling. In spite of no support, we have still managed to garner medals in the past.

“They have made the efforts of the WAP athletes nothing as they have made this their little milking cow for years. When we first started wresting, they even tried stopping us from training because they knew they would never be able to manipulate or threaten us like they did the other athletes. I and my co-officers have nothing to gain from this at all. This is just our way of giving back to the athletes who have shared this wonderful sport with us in the past. All of the athletes have their own horror stories about these people and are now all very willing to talk, given the chance and the right forum.”

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Sevilla has submitted a list of 12 grievances against the supposedly deposed WAP officers to the POC with an appeal “to help us usher in a leadership with integrity that will truly and passionately promote our beloved sport in the country.”

Sevilla pointed out that the WAP failed to send a single wrestler to any of the last six Olympic qualifying tournaments, disqualifying by default potential competitors for the Beijing Games. He said on the way to last year’s World Championships in Azerbaijan, a Filipino wrestler, a coach and the secretary-general returned home from a stopover in Dubai when they learned the contestant was not qualified to join the event.

Sevilla reported that six WAP representatives attended the international federation summit in Beijing during the Olympics but two delegates were not known by the wrestling community.

There were more accusations made by Sevilla in the manifesto. But the POC will not act on the grievances because the elections are scheduled too close to rock any NSA boat at this time. That’s politics in sports for you.