POC, PSC deny giving funds to bogus NSAs
OFFICIALS of the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Sports Commission yesterday flatly denied accusations they connived to grant financial assistance to bogus national sports associations.
In a joint statement, the officials—who were charged last week with malversation before the Office of the Ombudsman—belied allegations that the POC worked to have “fake NSAs” receive government funding from the PSC.
Sports associations, they explained, should first earn recognition from the POC before the PSC could extend financial aid to them.
In a Senate committee hearing Wednesday last week, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV accused PSC chair Richie Garcia and POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. of supporting “bogus NSAs” which Trillanes didn’t identify.
On the same day, Jacinto Omila Jr., chair of the Table Tennis Association of the Philippines (Tatap) of which Trillanes is the president, filed a graft case against Garcia, Cojuangco and other sports officials for extending financial aid to a rival Tatap group headed by former national player Ting Ledesma.
Ledesma’s group enjoys POC recognition.
In his complaint, Omila said the PSC released a total of P2,327,465 in financial assistance to Ledesma’s Tatap despite an ongoing leadership dispute between the two blocs.
The POC-PSC statement said it was “utterly unfair of Sen. Trillanes” to accuse Cojuangco and Garcia of “recognizing and granting financial assistance to alleged bogus NSAs.”
“Had the good senator been more prudent in his pronouncements, he would have realized that the matter of recognizing NSAs does not solely lie in the hands of the POC president but also in the POC’s executive board and general assembly,” it said.
NSAs gain membership by complying with the POC requirements, including recognition by the sport’s international federation and registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Once the NSA gets the POC nod, the Olympic body endorses the association to the PSC, the government funding arm for sports.
“There are no bogus NSA members in the POC, unlike the fake nongovernment organizations that were allegedly used by some senators to channel their funds from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP),” the statement said.
“The PSC exercises due diligence in disbursing funds to NSAs… it is utter falsehood for the senator to claim that some NSAs had pocketed public funds without proper accounting.”
Other respondents in the case were PSC commissioners Salvador Andrada, Gillian Akiko Guevarra, Wigberto Clavecilla Jr., Jose Luis Gomez and table tennis officials Annie Andanar, Domingo Panlilio, Arnel Berroya, Ma. Teresa Diniega and Ledesma.
