Can of worms

Bacolod businessman Ernesto (Boy) Piccio’s six-year-old campaign to retrieve gold medals that rightfully belong to the Philippine men’s swimming team for winning the 4x200 meter freestyle relay event at the 2003 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam is back in high gear with no less than Philippine Amateur Swimming Association (PASA) president Mark Joseph vowing to redeem the honor.

Piccio’s son Carlo swam on the team with Mark Kalaw, Miguel Mendoza and Miguel Molina. After topping the event, the Filipinos were disqualified on the basis of what was subsequently confirmed to be a computer glitch. Their victory was reaffirmed two months later by FINA (Federation Internationale de Natation), the world governing body for the sport.

Piccio makes it a point to remind everyone that the medals are still undelivered after every SEA Games and once again, cried out for justice during the recent Laos conclave.

In reaction, Joseph blamed the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and PASA officials at that time (2003) for failing to promptly file the protests that would’ve overturned the disqualification without the tedious process of appealing to FINA.

Then-POC president Celso Dayrit said it was unfair for Joseph to claim that he did nothing for the disenfranchised swimmers.

“While still the POC president in 2004, I already talked to the Olympic Council of Malaysia to help retrieve the gold medals from their swimmers,” said Dayrit. “They committed to help but before the transfer of the medals was effected, my term in the POC had ceased.”

Piccio said the country’s chef de mission Julian Camacho filed a protest in Vietnam with Dayrit’s endorsement. The letter was addressed to the SEA Games organizing committee which turned it over to FINA for adjudication. Piccio said Camacho’s letter, which Dayrit strongly backed up, prodded FINA to eventually nullify the disqualification.

In a letter dated Feb. 11, 2004, Vietnam Olympic Committee vice president and secretary-general Hoang Vinh Giang wrote Dayrit admitting the computer glitch. He said adjustments would be made for the Philippines to be awarded the gold, Malaysia the silver and Singapore the bronze. The bronze that had been given to Thailand was withdrawn.

Piccio also acknowledged the support of Philippine Sports Commission chairman Eric Buhain for appealing to Nguyen Dan Thai, president of the SEA Games Federation, to reinstate the Philippines’ win. Dayrit, however, said it is irregular for any agency other than a National Olympic Committee or a National Sports Association to act in behalf of a country on an international issue involving a sporting controversy.

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Piccio refuted Joseph’s claim that Malaysia isn’t budging to return the gold medals because of political differences with Singapore.

“Carlo called up his gold friend Allen Ong who swam for the Malaysian 4x200 meter freestyle relay team in 2003 and was told Malaysia had returned their gold medals a long time ago,” continued Piccio. “Gary Tan, who swam for Singapore in the same event that year, also confirmed their medals were returned. So the medals must be with the national swimming associations.”

Piccio said it is the SEA Games Federation’s duty to recover the medals for the Philippines and there is no need to mint new gold medals. “As a nation competing in the SEA Games, we are represented in the Federation,” continued Piccio. “Since Mr. Joseph is a member of the POC executive board, he has the power to do something. He was in Laos for the Federation council meeting in 2008. What did he do to try to recover the gold medals?”

Piccio also doused cold water on Joseph’s insistence that his friend Woon Sui Kut of Singapore was responsible for FINA’s decision to reinstate the Philippines’ win.

“After the controversial disqualification and the discovery of the print-out from the Omega touchpad, Mr. Woon refused to budge and insisted on the Philippines’ disqualification,” said Piccio. “FINA rules clearly state that if an error by an official follows a fault by a competitor, the fault by the competitor may be expunged. It was Mr. Woon who deprived us of the moment, to have our national anthem played on top of the winner’s stand in front of our cheering supporters. Why is Mr. Joseph giving credit to Mr. Woon when he refused to rectify the error during the emergency meeting?”

Piccio said contrary to his claims, Joseph had nothing to do with his son’s training in the US.

“My wife Gina and I always had a dream of sending all our kids to the US to study,” said Piccio. “Carlo stayed in his aunt’s house in the US. Gina and I took care of his enrollment in school. Coach Bill Rose found Carlo a foster parent. We registered him with the Mission Viejo club and got his US visa. In short, Mr. Joseph did nothing to arrange for Carlo’s training in the US.”

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Piccio was taken aback by Joseph’s statement that he was “politically in bed with the Ilagan-Rivera duo, hoping they would somehow help Carlo make it to the Athens Games.” Monchito Ilagan and Chito Rivera used to head PASA.

Piccio challenged Joseph to prove his contention. “Why is Mr. Joseph trying to sow intrigue between Carlo and Miguel?” continued Piccio. “They’ve become very good friends after all these years. Because of Mr. Joseph’s contention, Carlo asked Miguel if there were attempts to sideline Miguel so Carlo could make it to the Olympics. Miguel said none. There was no pressure from PASA, Carlo or me. Miguel eventually swam the 400 individual medley in Athens for the Philippines.”

Piccio said Joseph’s reaction to his recovery campaign has opened a can of worms.

But in the spirit of goodwill, Piccio said he hopes with Joseph at the PASA helm, the sport will progress.

“I hope Mr. Joseph will embark on an honest-to-goodness grassroots development program, organize more competitions so that homegrown talents will augment our talented Fil-Ams and foreign-trained swimmers who have been providing almost all the gold medals in the SEA Games,” said Piccio. “I wish that Mr. Joseph will officially announce the date of future elections and hold one according to our by-laws. I hope PASA will be more transparent and liquidate properly all the funds that enter its books and make yearly financial reports. I wish that the P30 million fund from PAGCOR is fully accounted for. I truly wish Mr. Joseph will be able to unite the fragmented swimming community under his administration and support the people trying to help the sport. And finally, I hope Mr. Joseph answers the question of where the gold medals are and to deliver them to the Philippines and our national swimmers. I hope he understands that no one, not even himself, is bigger than the sport itself.”