Colleagues, solon slam Carrion

Philippine Sports Commission chairman Eric Buhain officially declared war against commissioner Cynthia Carrion yesterday, offering no compromise and at the same time saying that he’s ready to face all the consequences of his actions seeking the removal of the former aerobics association president from the PSC.

"The best thing for Commissioner Carrion to do at this time is talk to the President and ask for guidance. The President was the one who appointed her so the President is also the best person to advise her," said Buhain after a-one-hour press conference at the VIP Lounge of the PSC building.

Buhain, tapped by the President as the new PSC chairman last January, was joined in the press conference by commissioners William "Butch" Ramirez and Mike Barredo, and Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella, chairman of the House Committee on Youth and Sports and also a former PSC commissioner.

Buhain, Ramirez and commissioner Leon Montemayor (who was out of town) recently signed a petition asking the President to sack Carrion due to various reasons ranging from malversation of funds to illegal hiring of personnel. Ritchie Garcia also signed the petition days before Barredo replaced him.

"We are ready to face all the consequences. We stand by our decision 110 percent. As I’ve said before, we serve here on a day-to-day basis," said Buhain, who also mentioned Carrion’s penchant for dropping the name of the President every now and then.

"She doesn’t have to flaunt that she’s a friend of the President because she does this everyday. We can no longer live in an atmosphere of threat and we can no longer act in atmosphere of threat. This is not a controversy. This is reality.

"We elevated this issue to the President because we felt she is the only person we can ask for help from. We’ve tried hard to convince commissioner Carrion to let go of her (controversial) executive secretary during meetings and over breakfast or lunch. But she chose her rather than us," Buhain added.

Buhain said Carrion was invited to the press conference but did not get any response. Carrion, however, had said that she will answer all the charges hurled against her — point by point — but only before the President.

Puentevella said he joined the press conference to reaffirm a separate petition signed by at least 20 members of the House committee last February also seeking the ouster of Carrion from the PSC. Carrion is a close friend of the President.

"Teamwork is the real issue. The PSC board is supposed to be the starting five of RP sports. But if you don’t have a team, then what will happen to our programs? Public office means public trust. We must cut the virus now. Cut and cut clean. We leave it all up the President now. But I have full faith and confidence on the President. I know she will make the right decision and whatever it is, we will have to respect it," he said.

Buhain said they are ready to submit more documents to Malacanang to support their charges. "We have documents to back up our charges to malversation of funds amounting to at least P200,000 between Commissioner Carrion and her executive secretary who still has unliquidated cash advances of P484,000 to the PSC."