A few years ago, POC placed dragon boat under the Philippine Canoe Kayak Federation (PCKF). Despite winning 5 gold medals at the World Championships in Tampa Florida under the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation (PDBF), POC President Cojuangco intervened and successfully placed the sport under a different national federation.
But after a few years, trouble erupted within PCKF and the paddlers of PDBF who joined PCKF. Below is a letter written by the paddlers who joined PCKF.
National Dragon Boat Team
SUMMARY
On July 12, 2013, we wrote a letter
addressed to both the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and the Philippine
Sports Commission (PSC) requesting for an investigation of two (2) of the
officials of PCKF: Acting President
Ms.Jonne Go and Head Coach Ms.
Leonora Escollante on allegations of unethical conduct and questionable
disbursement of funds. These are violations which Ms. Escollante had previously
been penalized for by the PSC.
The immediate action taken by Ms. Go
is to unduly terminate the
twenty-five (25) athletes and three (3) coaches, representing 95% of the
National Pool, who filed the complaint.This
act is in direct violation of paragraph no. 25 of the POC-PSC-NSA Tripartite Agreement dated 11 January 1993.
Consequently,
we were put on floating status pending the resolution of the complaint.
Likewise, we have been verbally informed by POC that
all trainings have to be discontinued and were denied access to the
dragon boats situated at the CCP’s dock site. Worse, our South East Asian
Games (SEAGames) berth has been revoked and our
allowances and benefits, from which we derive our meagre income, were put on
hold pending the final determination of the case by the POC Arbitration
Committee.
PCKF
officials also released Memorandum Circular no. 08-2013 [attached] effectively banning the coaches and athletes from the CCP
training site, as well as all PCKF-sanctioned or managed activities. A number
of these coaches and athletes are also handling recreational teams of their own
for added income, but the ban renders them unable to perform their duties to
the teams that they are handling.
There are no allegations against us coaches and
athletes, and we have actually satisfied the qualification criteria for the
SEAG. The investigation is, in fact, directed towards the NSA officials with us
as the complainants.
Our sole request of the athletes and coaches is an
investigation of two (2) of our officials in the PCKF. We have no wish
whatsoever to separate from our fine organization.
We have already sent letters to the
Philippine Sports Commission and the Arbitration Committee of the POC
requesting for provisional reliefs and immediate disposition of the case based
on humanitarian and compassionate grounds but our request fell on deaf ears.
The POC and PCKF may have the right
and power to determine its organization and membership. However, we feel that
it is unjust for us to be stripped of our basic benefits and our well-deserved
opportunity to represent the country in the SEAGames, just because we chose to
bring to light the anomalies that we have experienced at the hands of our
officials – the supposed stewards of our Sport.
We followed strict protocol,
stretched our forbearance and good faith in our sports governing bodies, even
as five (5) months have passed without rendering a proper investigation and
resolution.
On
06 November, the Arbitration Committee released an official “recommendation,” [attached] claiming to only be a
recommending body, rather than the Arbitration Committee that it is named. The
recommendation fails to address the issue of the misused funds but at the same
time recommends that there be better auditing. According to the Arbitration
Committee, the POC Board, of which respondent Jonne Go is a member, will have to
give its final decision based on their recommendation.
Although
many POC Board Meetings have passed and follow-ups have been written, the POC
Board has yet to release their final decision, and the athletes and coaches
remain uncertain and without compensation.
Meanwhile,
the PCKF carries on as usual, having formed a “new” National Team, organizing
events and sending canoe and kayak delegates to the SEAG.
Why
the Dragon Boat should have been included in the SEAGames:
The Dragon
Boat Team was, in fact, already included in the SEAGames roster. This
inclusion was officially announced by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC)
and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), and we were informed that the PSC
had already submitted the Entry-by-Number, thereby reserving slots for
the Dragon Boat Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Teams.
This
decision was made by the POC based on the Dragon Boat Team’s performance record
in the previous SEAGames, as well as the World Championships and other
international competitions. (See no.’s 2
and 3)
Also,
considered was the Athlete-to-Medal Ratio. The event of Dragon Boat does
require a large delegation of forty (40) athletes, but there are a total of eighteen
(18) medals at stake in Dragon Boat alone.
Standing
in previous SEA Games:
|
G
|
S
|
B
|
2005
|
6
|
--
|
--
|
2007
|
--
|
2
|
--
|
2009
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
2011
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
·
The
2009 SEA Games did not field a Dragon Boat Event.
1) Standing in other
international competitions:
|
|
|
G
|
S
|
B
|
2007
|
IDBF
World Championships
|
Sydney,
Australia
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
2008
|
ADBF
Asian Championships
|
Penang,
Malaysia
|
1
|
8
|
--
|
2009
|
IDBF
World Championships
|
Prague,
Czech Republic
|
2
|
--
|
--
|
2012
|
Asian
Beach Games
|
Haiyang,
China
|
--
|
2
|
1
|
2012
|
ICF World
Championships
|
Milan,
Italy
|
6
|
1
|
--
|
·
In
the 2007World Championships in
Australia, Team Philippines set a new World Record in the 200-metre
Premier Open Event.
·
In
the 2009 World Championships in the
Czech Republic, Team Philippines broke their
own World Record in the same event.
·
Also
in the 2009 World Championships in
the Czech Republic, Team Philippines setanother World Record in the
200-metre Premier Mixed Event.
·
The
record times in both events have NOT
been broken to date. Team Philippines still holds the World Record in both
events.
The 2012
DBS Marina Regatta in Singaporeserved as a Pre-SEA Games Event for South
East Asia’s top seeded Dragon Boat Teams, namely Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand
and Philippines. The results of which are very promising:
·
In
the Women’s 500m, Team Philippines placed 2nd, only 0.56 seconds
after Gold medallist Myanmar
·
In
the Women’s 200m, Team Philippines placed 3rd, only 0.67 seconds
after Gold medallist Indonesia
·
In
the Men’s 500m, Team Philippines placed 3rd, only 0.61 seconds
after Gold medallist Myanmar
·
In
the Men’s 200m, Team Philippines placed 2nd, only 0.30 seconds
after Gold medallist Indonesia.
Volleyball must take its cue from dragon boat.
