PSC sacks two athletics coaches

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Sports Commission will stand firm on its decision to scratch athletics coaches Joseph Sy and Roselyn Hamero out of the government’s payroll.

The two, upon the recommendation of Commissioner Jolly Gomez, were sacked for “not doing their jobs” while their wards were training in Baguio for the Southeast Asian Games.

“They may appeal but we’ll likely turn it down,” PSC chairman Richie Garcia said yesterday.

Sy and Hamero, still enjoying the nod of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (Patafa) will remain national coaches but would not be entitled to the P20,000 a month allowance from the PSC.

“We didn’t terminate them because we don’t have the powers to remove them (from the coaching staff) but we stopped their allowances,” said Garcia.

Sy and Hamero, according to the report of Gomez, were hardly reporting in the PSC’s Baguio facility as “most of the time they were in Manila to attend to duties as coaches of College of St. Benilde and Far Eastern University, respectively.”

The said coaches were likewise said to have been made to help man the Pafata office in the absence of ailing president Go Teng Kok.

“If that were the case, they should have taken a leave of absence as coaches. They could work in the office for three months, four months, one year, that’s okay with us but it should be the NSA that will pay their allowances. We’re not paying them to be office workers but as coaches,” said Garcia.