PFF hit for ‘lack of transparency’

Philippine Football Federation president Johnny Romualdez’s lack of transparency, professionalism and programs are the reasons why local soccer is getting nowhere, two football association officials said yesterday.

"There is a problem of professionalism. PFF president Johnny Romualdez does not follow the rules of the PFF itself," said Jun Pacificador, Laguna Football Association president, at the PSA forum at the Pantalan Restaurant function room in Manila.

Joining Pacificador in the session sponsored by Pagcor, the Manila City government and the Manila Sports Council were former PFF president Honesto Isleta and National Capital Region Football Association president Pocholo Borromeo, who has been one of the PFF leadership’s leading critics.

Pacificador cited the decision of Romualdez to abruptly cancel the national futsal (indoor soccer) championship that Laguna was all set to host in December last year as an example of his unilateral decision-making.

"After Johnny assured two months before the tournament that it would push through, he suddenly tells us that the event has been cancelled. We were ready to host and had already spent our resources for the competition," he said.

"Staging the national futsal championship or indoor soccer was an ideal event to promote outdoor football. But Mr. Romualdez suddenly decides to cancel it. This is just one of the questionable decisions that the PFF president has made," he added.

Pacificador also noted the case of a Laguna football official who was suspended for 18 months by the PFF for unsportsmanlike conduct for attacking a player with a knife in a tournament.

"When you are suspended, you are not supposed to have any contact with the PFF or any other football association. And yet we learned that the PFF appointed him as an adviser for youth development, with an allowance to boot, while he was still suspended," he said.

"This official was suspended for misbehaving and yet he gets appointed as adviser for youth development. How come?" Pacificador asked.

The scrapping of the national squad to the Asian Under-19 tournament in January was another sign of the PFF’s inefficiency, Pacificador said, a result that personally affected him since his daughter was a member of the squad.

"I spent P1,000 a day to bring my daughter from Laguna to the Ultra to train for a month, only to find out that the PFF missed the registration deadline so had to cancel the squad’s trip," he said.

For his part, Borromeo said Pacificador and several other PFF members would press for the accounting of the sports association’s books, which Romualdez has already twice declined.

The PFF reportedly spent P90 million over the past years and had earmarked a P40-million in 2006.

"All we want to ask is where did the money go? We do not see any evidence how that much money was spent," Borromeo said.