Phl, dragon boat team robbed of gold, self-esteem

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine national dragon boat teams are world class. Our men’s and mixed (12 men, 8 women) teams posted world records in their respective 200-meter races at the 2009 World Dragon Boat Championships in Prague, Czech Republic. Currently, they are regarded as the fastest in the world. At the 2008 Asian Dragon Boat Championships in Penang, Malaysaia , we won gold medals in the women’s 500-meter and the 200-meter mixed (6 men, 4 women) premier events.

Before the Asian Games dragon boat competitions in Guangzhou, China last Nov. 18, the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation (PDBF), the International Dragon Boat Federation, and other followers of the sport locally and in Asia all exuded optimism about our medal prospects.

Unfortunately, on the eve of the Asiad, the pettiness and shortsightedness of Philippine sports leaders deprived the country of at least two gold medals and a silver.

Based on their times at the qualifying trials held in La Mesa Dam, Quezon City last Oct. 11, our women’s team would have beaten China for gold in the 500- and 250-meter races, and would have secured a silver in the 1,000 meters. Moreover, since our teams were still peaking for the Asiad races 36 days away, the PDBF projected that the women could win the gold in the 1,000 meters; while the men could get a gold, a silver and a bronze.

Unfortunately, the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), which determines which athletes can join the Asian Games, eliminated our highly rated squads. The POC board’s decision relied solely on Col. Jeff Tamayo (ret.), its chief representative at the trials.

Reporting to the POC barely 24 hours after the trials, Tamayo claimed – without any substantiation – that “our paddlers were super men and women, or were on super steroids”. (What an irresponsible and scurrilous thing for a former military officer to say against dedicated young athletes, mostly serving in the military, police or coast guard!) He also accused PDBF officials of unethical conduct in submitting slow reference times for the 1,000-meter trials. (That both teams met the qualifying times for 200 and 500 meters was unquestioned.) And yet, it was up to Tamayo and the POC to validate and approve the final benchmark times before the actual trials. Furthermore, the POC could easily have ordered a second round of time trials to resolve any pending issues.

Inexplicably, on Oct.15, without giving PDBF officers and athletes a chance to reply, the POC board adopted Tamayo’s report in full. Our paddlers learned of their ouster from the Asian Games only through the media. POC chairman Monico Puentebella made the unfounded statement that “the time trial results reflected that our dragon boat teams are not in the best of shape for the Asian Games considering the quality of the competition”. Until today, the PDBF, a POC member-association, has not received a formal written communication from the POC concerning the teams’ exclusion.

After practicing three times daily, six days a week, over the last six months, what sins did our paddlers commit to deserve this kind of treatment?

As if to rebut the POC’s decision through actual performance, the national women’s team won all of its events at the First Camarines Sur International Dragon Boat Festival on Oct. 16-17. They even beat the highly rated Camarines Sur and Philippine Navy’s Fleet Marine teams, two-thirds of whose members were men! (Governor Elray Villafuerte has joined basketball leader Noli Eala and sports analyst Boyet Sison as among the team’s avid supporters who have personally witnessed their exploits.)

Perhaps to make up for its indefensible actions, on Oct. 27, Puentebella and two POC board members met with the dragon boat athletes, provided that the PDBF officials and coaches were kept in the dark about it. Puentebella reiterated the POC’s decision against the teams’ participation in Guangzhou. He blamed PDBF officials for gravely misrepresenting the time references during the qualifying trials.

At the meeting, our athletes were shocked when the POC board members encouraged them to change their PDBF officers and to transfer to other sports , where the POC would support them! Later, they would read Col. Tamayo’s report, which proclaims loftily that the “NOC (National Olympic Committee) is “the keeper of the highest ideals of fair play” and “Olympism”. Is it in keeping with Olympic ideals when top POC officials prod our athletes to subvert their national sports association by withdrawing support for their leaders and abandoning their chosen sport?

After Puentebella gave the athletes a copy of Tamayo’s report, the PDBF sent its point-by-point response. To his credit, POC Technical and Rules Committee chairman Go Teng Kok backed the PDBF’s appeal for reconsideration. Unfortunately, during its Nov. 3 meeting, the POC board disallowed any review or investigation of the Tamayo report.

 Our dragon boat athletes have been robbed of their medals and their reputations and self-esteem. They have also been unjustly deprived of several million pesos, to which they would have been entitled under the Sports Benefits and Incentives Act of 2001 (Republic Act No. 9064).

( President, Federation of Free Farmers and ABA Party-List. Mr. Montemayor was Agriculture Secretay in 2001-02 and Party-List Representative in the 14th Congress.)