NCFP freezes bank accounts; Estimo denies rap

Lawyer Constantino Marcaida, National Chess Federation of the Philippines treasurer, yesterday ordered the freezing of accounts of the NCFP in two banks controlled by relieved NCFP secretary general Sammy Estimo.

Acting on NCFP Board Resolution No. B-02, Marcaida wrote the Bank of Philippine Islands branches in Timog Avenue and Capitol Hills, Quezon City "for the said account be frozen starting from your receipt (of this letter) hereof until further notice from the Federation."

Marcaida also demanded the banks to furnish the NCFP "with bank statements from the time the account was opened," based as stated in paragraph 4 of the said NCFP board resolution.

The act of freezing the NCFP accounts was one of 10 motions passed by 10 of the original 15 members of the NCFP board, led by president Mat Defensor and chairman Andy Gatmaitan, aimed at reforming the chess association.

The resolution also included asking Estimo to take a leave of absence while his duties were temporarily transferred to NCFP executive director Casto Abundo.

Gene Poliarco, former NCFP director, filed a sworn statement on Feb. 11 claiming that he "received from Estimo the Statement of Cash Receipts and Disbursements in the amount of P5, 822,000 for the year 2002 signed by Marcaida, which was submitted to the SEC per letter dated April 15, 2003."

During the recent board meeting, however, Marcaida told the other board of director that his signature was forged in the statement of assets and liabilities of the NCFP submitted to the SEC. In a sworn affidavit, Poliarco said he received the document from Estimo.

Estimo has been taken to task by the NCFP board to account for the funds the organization received over the past two years and illegally signing, without a board a resolution, its bank checking accounts.

Majority of the members of the national team that compete in the 2002 Bled Olympiad had complained that they did not receive their allowances that Estimo got from the PSC on behalf of the NCFP.

But Estimo, in a statement, pointed out that the accounting of (NCFP) funds for the years 2002 and 2003 had long been submitted to the members of the board contrary to earlier allegations of Abundo that he had failed to account for the funds received by him on behalf of the NCFP.

Among the funds that Estimo was demanded by the NCFP board to account was the allowances of $400 each given by the Philippine Sports Commission to the national junior team that competed in the World Chess Championship in Greece.

"The audit is ongoing but it is being hampered by Mr. Abundo’s malicious instruction to the parents of the youth players who went to Greece not to surrender the tickets of their children. Without these tickets, which were bought with the financial assistance given by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to the NCFP, the federation cannot liquidate the amount."

But Estimo stressed that there was no allowance given to the youth players because the amount requested by Defensor and coach GM Eugene Torre in their letter-request dated Oct. 6, 2003 was for the payment of their plane fares.

"GM Torre and I used the amount of P438,000 in buying these tickets and that is how the NCFP would liquidate the same," said Estimo.

In fact, Estimo said that PSC executive director Ed Mateo yesterday assured the NCFP that the PSC will duly realign the grant of P438,000 to concur with the purpose for which Defensor and Torre solicited the fund — for plane fares and not as allowances of the youth players.

Estimo also clarified that the allowances of the Bled Olympiad squad were actually given to the members of the team and to the other winners in the 2002 National Chess Championship. In fact, he said it was FIDE honorary president Florencio Campomanes who advanced the amount of P1.128 million, which the NCFP reimbursed later with interest.

Estimo added that Torre, IM Mark Paragua, WIM Beverly Mendoza and WFM Joy Lomibao had already executed their affidavits attesting to the true status of the financial assistance given by the PSC.