Fifa reaffirms Araneta's PFF election

MANILA, Philippines –  Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta scored another victory in his fight for legitimacy against ousted president Mari Martinez as the International Football Federation (Fifa) reaffirmed the legality of his election to the post after a fact-finding mission last week.

The Fifa and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) sent two lawyers – FIFA head of corporate legal Fabienne Moser-Frei and AFC legal director My Dung Nguyen – to Manila last week to dig deeper into the PFF leadership dispute. They interviewed stakeholders in an effort to find out if the actions during the Nov. 27, 2010 PFF Congress that removed Martinez and installed Araneta to serve out his unexpired term were all in order.

In a letter dated Jan. 3, Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke informed the PFF that “after having thoroughly analyzed the report of the Fifa-AFC team, Fifa vice president and chairman of the association committee Geoff Thompson is still of the legal opinion that the ouster of Martinez and the subsequent election of Araneta complied with with the PFF’s by-laws.” His latest legal opinion jibed with his previous opinion last Dec. 20, 2010, which was issued prior to the probers’ trip to Manila.

“His (Thompson’s) view is mainly based on the facts that all stakeholders agreed on the same set of statutes adopted by the PFF Congress in 2007 as well as on the same national laws applicable to the present case and that the video which was submitted by the PFF administration to FIFA and AFC containing the facts (that) happened during the second part of the PFF Congress was not contested,” Valcke wrote.

Martinez had challenged the legality of the said PFF Congress and last week filed a case for temporary restraining order at the Pasig court to prevent Araneta from assuming the post. He’s also said to be considering the option of bringing his case to the Court of Arbitration in Sports (CAS).

“The Chairman of the Association Committee took into consideration that the decision taken by the PFF Congress were neither challenged at the arbitration court (CAS) nor at the competent local court by any PFF member or by Mr. Martinez within due time,” Valcke wrote.