MY TWO SIMPLE QUESTIONS FOR TATS SUZARA

I came across several newspaper reports about Tats Suzara's cash advances in Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) amounting to more than 3M in 1999. Suzara, according to the reports, used the cash advances to train a pool of national athletes and coaches in Australia. His cash advances were so controversial that in 2000, it was included in a graft case filed by a PSC commissioner who blew the whistle on other PSC officials. The case was even heard at the senate with Sen. Jaworski leading the investigation. Tats Suzara was eventually cleared by Ombudsman Aniano Desierto of any wrongdoing with regards to the cash advances.

But what intrigues me is Suzara's refusal to answer two questions that I have thrown at him for a week now. I asked him several times, through Philippine Superliga and his colleagues, where the training was held and what particular sport was involved in the training. Suzara chooses not to respond. 

In the other clipping above, Suzara told reporter Joel Orellana that the 3M cash advances were reimbursements for a seminar attended by a pool of national athletes and coaches in Darwin, Australia. More specifically, he cited Victoria Institute as the venue where his Filipino athletes and coaches had a seminar for two months. Victoria Institute was only established in 2011 making it impossible for Suzara and his contingent to have had a seminar in the institute in 1999. Moreover. it is in Melbourne and not in Darwin. Victorian Institute of Sports (VIS), on the other hand, appears more likely to be the place to train elite athletes. But VIS is in Melbourne as well and not in Darwin.

But what intrigues me the most is the email that VIS sent me.  Since Suzara refuses to answer my questions, I decided to ask VIS myself about the training  The email was sent to me last February 16, 2016..

Hi Eric,

Thank you for contacting the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS). In response to your question, a visiting group of officials from the Philippines attended VIS in the past for a tour and a discussion. However, we do not have a record of which individuals attended or the exact date of the visit.

I hope this information is of assistance to you.

Kind Regards,

Mathew

The lack of details concerning the "tour and discussion" of Filipino officials is quite understandable if the visit took place 16 years ago. And if it was only a two-hour visit and discussion, chances are, records could be missing after 16 years. But the email is revealing in the sense that it does not mention in any way, any seminar or training of Filipino athletes and coaches that lasted for two months. What it mentions is merely a tour and discussion involving officials.

Will Tats Suzara now answer my two simple questions to finally clear the issue? I certainly hope so. The Filipino sports community, after all, deserves that much.

I  will  be extremely happy to post the answers that Suzara will give.