Chaos in our midst

What is happening to our country?

The value of the peso is plunging to record lows. The threat of the bird flu is panicking consumers. Terrorism is a clear and present danger to us all. Traffic is worsening and the yellow stripe scheme doesn’t look like it’s working to the benefit of most motorists. Pollution is suffocating. The military is restive. The cast of unqualified candidates for the May elections is alarming. Gasoline prices are rising. The culture of corruption is threatening to become a way of life. Crime is rampant.

Is there no end in sight to our problems?

In sports, there is widespread chaos, too.

A basketball game involving college kids was stopped by a court order in a blatant display of a political power play. A soldier brandishing an M-16 was posted in front of the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) office that was padlocked on the strength of the same court order.

When will this ridiculous turf war stop? What kind of example are our basketball leaders showing to the youth? Two camps are struggling for control of the National Sports Association (NSA) in basketball. One side has gone to the extent of forming a new corporate body to break away from the other.

BAP secretary-general Graham Lim’s citizenship has been questioned by his rivals in an obvious attempt to boot him out of office and out of the country, too. Poor Lim. He was born here, is married to a Filipina with Filipino children and has lived here all his life. Now, his enemies want to deport him to a country which isn’t his home.

Questioning one’s citizenship seems to be a trend lately. Look at what’s happening to FPJ. If detractors can do it to a presidential candidate, what more a BAP official?

Former BAP secretary-general Nic Jorge insists he belongs on the NSA saddle, not Lim, and has a court ruling to back him up. He’s been fighting to wrest control of the NSA for eight years. But the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) refuse to tolerate government intervention. It is Lim’s BAP that enjoys the confidence of both the FIBA and the ABC.

The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is in a quandary. So is the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) The BAP is recognized as the NSA in basketball by the POC which follows the FIBA lead because of its affiliation with the International Olympic Committee. But a state ruling in Jorge’s favor has been made and the PSC, being a government agency, can’t ignore it.

The war has become so personal that to avoid identity complications, the National Basketball League was transformed into the National Basketball Conference. There was also an attempt to redub the Metro Manila intercollegiate championships to the Ambrosio Padilla Cup to avoid similar complications. But are these moves really necessary? Again, what message does it deliver to the youth? That our leaders can’t get their act together and must resort to finding loopholes to escape legal entanglements.

There is a possibility that four Asian countries could play in the 2006 World Championships and three in the 2008 Olympics. What an opportunity for the Philippines to break back into the world basketball map. The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is now studying how to prepare for the big push but so is BAP which is calling for nationwide tryouts to form a candidates pool. Will the PBA and BAP work together or against each other?

Another conflict in basketball involves Shell’s appointment of American John Moran to coach its PBA team. The Basketball Coaches Association of the Philippines has opposed the appointment because it insists the job should be given to a Filipino.

In chess, the turmoil is as earth-shaking. Grandmaster Joey Antonio and international master Mark Paragua are at odds. They’ve taken their feud to media, fueling a bitter word war. There is also a leadership crisis in the National Chess Federation of the Philippines.

In bowling, senatorial candidate and multi-titled lane legend Bong Coo has publicly questioned the wisdom of allowing American coach Purvis Granger to play on the Philippine team in circuit competitions. Of course, Granger is not qualified to play as a Filipino in the Southeast Asian Games or the Asian Games or the World Cup but the limitation does not apply to the regional circuit.

Granger, as a coach, is largely responsible for the country’s recent successes in international tournaments. Coo, in a patriotic call to rally around the flag, has called for Granger’s departure.

In swimming, national tanker Jenny Guerrero’s father Jun has vowed to expose shenanigans and questionable decisions traceable to the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association. But is there substance to Guerrero’s charges?

In the PSC, there is so much concern about raising funds for the 2005 Southeast Asian Games that people are wondering if it is losing focus on the coming Athens Olympics.

A six-page paper has been circulated detailing PSC chairman Eric Buhain’s "crimes" from appropriating P600,000 for a smoking pavilion at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex to allocating $100 per diems for PSC officials (compared to $30 for athletes) living like royalty at the posh Hyundai Beach Hotel during the Busan Asian Games two years ago.

It’s unfair and cowardly for an anonymous writer to circulate a damaging paper without his or her signature. If what the paper contains is factual, then it should be properly signed and charges must be filed against those accused of wrongdoing.

And don’t forget Go Teng Kok, the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association president. He was ambushed and nearly murdered by an assassin in front of his Rizal Memorial office building. Why? Who was the mastermind of the attempted murder? Go insists the attempt on his life was sports-related.

In boxing, the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) officials appear clueless on how to improve the sad state of affairs of the sport. Instead of making life easier on fighters, the GAB is imposing more and more conditions that will mean spending more and more money to obtain licenses. Instead of protecting Filipino fighters from unscrupulous promoters here and abroad, the GAB seems to be looking the other way. Allegations of GAB officials junketing at government (and our) expense to attend boxing conventions all over the world without meaningful results are not helping the agency’s deteriorating image.

Is our situation hopeless? I hope not.