Scandal

There is a whiff of scandal hanging heavily over our sports community — again. It could explode into a major national embarrassment on the same scale as the 1992 scandal involving our little league baseball team.

In 1992, we fielded a strong team that won the 46th Little League World Series in the US. That team was powered by the exceptionally talented “Zamboanga boys.” That triumph was so astounding, it could have produced a renaissance in Filipino baseball.

Alas, the Philippines had to return the trophy shortly after. Enterprising Filipino sports journalists called out some of our players for being over-aged. In a word, we did not play by the rules. Our sports authorities knowingly cheated. We did not deserve to win.

With very red faces, we returned the trophy. What could have been a golden moment for Filipino baseball became its darkest hour. Our baseball never recovered from that. The boys that went out to play with the stoutest of hearts were scarred for life.

That traumatic event was avoidable. All we had to do was follow the rules. Sportsmanship is all about abiding by the rules. Our sports officials at that time failed us. They brought dishonor to the whole country.

Soon we might have to return another trophy. The only question now is which very red face will finally make the admission and hand the trophy back.

In 1992, it was baseball. This year, it is golf, that most venerable game of gentlemen.

The event is the 2013 Putra Cup, the prestigious amateur golf event for Southeast Asia. We used to dominate this event a generation ago. Then, for 17 years, we staggered as our neighbors — Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia — grew a very strong field of players.

This year, the Philippines proudly hosted the Putra Cup, held at the stunning Sherwood course in Cavite. Our team won the tournament. Our golfing community duly celebrated the achievement that ended a long title drought.

National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) president Tommy Manotoc was understandably ecstatic. “It is such a wonderful thing, reclaiming the title on home soil,” he gushed at the awarding ceremony.

All is not well, however.

The Asian golfing circuit is abuzz about a quiet investigation undertaken by one of the participating country federations about the qualification of some of the players we fielded. The findings so far are scandalous.

The Putra Cup has very clear rules about the citizenship and residency of participating players. It seems our sports authorities did not scrupulously observe those rules.

The truth came out of the proverbial horse’s mouth. In the course of fairway banter with Indonesian players, one of our players complained of jet lag, having arrived in Manila from the US only the day before the tournament. He likewise admitted seeing the course and experiencing Philippine weather for the first time.

Two of the boys we fielded in the national team, it turns out, were US citizens. The two are Richard ‘Rico” Hoey and Jonathan de los Reyes. They were ably supported in the championship effort by two local players, Ruperto Zaragoza and Jobim Carlos.

Under Putra Cup citizenship and residency rules, Hoey and de los Reyes were ineligible. Even under the relaxed one-year residency requirement installed to accommodate Hong Kong, the two players do not qualify to play for the Philippines.

The charge that we misrepresented two of our players, with the connivance of our highest sports officials, is a very serious one. It is unsportsmanlike conduct at its worst.

It appears, according to my source, that our sports officials have subsequently produced a Philippine passport for one of the two Fil-Ams, although this was after the tournament. That merely aggravates the crime, adding to it the ingredient of an attempted cover-up.

The sports officials who should have overseen our team’s compliance are well-known sportsmen. The officials include: chairman Jose “Peping” Cojuangco of the Philippine Sports Commission, PSC director Richie Garcia, NGAP president Tommy Manotoc, NGAP directors Gigi Montinola, Al Panlilio and Caloy Coscolluela, and NGAP executive director Boom Coscolluela.

Did they know we intentionally violated the citizenship rules in the last Putra Cup?

Since they must have, by now, gotten wind of the investigation undertaken by our tournament partners, shouldn’t one of them volunteer to come clean and return the trophy we do not fully deserve? Will one of them please stand up and act like a true sportsman?

Pathetic

Now we are told President Aquino will take his misdirected defense of the disbursement acceleration program (DAP) on the road. Why he wants to do this is anybody’s guess.

In his surprise address to the nation last week, the President basically defended the controversial DAP by saying no money was stolen and the people benefitted from the spending. That misses the point entirely. The point is whether this mechanism for diverting public funds is legal and constitutional. The only forum for settling that point is the Supreme Court.

The President’s threat to go barnstorming nationwide to consolidate public support for the DAP seems to be, therefore, forum shopping. It calls to mind something his mother Cory did during the great national debate on the future of US bases in the country.

Facing certain defeat in the Senate vote on the bases treaty, Cory gathered her crowd and led a march against the chamber. To no avail, as we now know. The Senate still voted to expel the bases.

That march against her own Senate is probably the most pathetic point of Cory’s presidency.