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At the 2003 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam, the Philippine 4x200 men’s freestyle relay swimming team was wrongly disqualified after topping the event.

The team was made up of Carlo Piccio, Miguel Mendoza, Miguel Molina and Mark Kalaw.

Under FINA (Federacion Internacional Natacion Amateur) rules, a formal protest must be filed within 30 minutes of an incident and a $35 bond must be paid. In Vietnam, no formal protest was filed. It took a few days for the Philippines to appeal for justice after reviewing a computer printout showing the reason for the disqualification was a mistake due to a glitch. Because the evidence was overwhelming, FINA decided to restore the Philippine victory even if the protest was irregular.

The question is – where are the gold medals?

It’s been four years since Vietnam

  and still, the medals haven’t been delivered to their rightful owners. Malaysia was previously proclaimed the winner of the event – after the disqualification – but with FINA’s reversal, the Philippines should be awarded the four medals.

Piccio’s father Ernesto, a Bacolod hotel owner, is wondering whatever happened to the medals. 

“It’s SEA Games time again,” said Piccio. “Just to inform you that up to now, the gold medals of the relay team have not been awarded. I don’t know what PASA (Philippine Amateur Swimming Association) president Mark Joseph has been doing about it. Three of the four members of the team are already retired (the only active competitor is Molina). They all served the country well. That’s why our sports officials should fight for what is rightfully theirs. You wrote about this before (in 2005) so I just want to give you an update.”

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BAP-SBP executive director Patrick Gregorio said Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Butch Ramirez and commissioner Binggoy Montemayor are actively supporting the National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) in Mindanao where Region 11 head Boy Cua and lawyer Manny Nitoreda are coordinating the Davao tryouts for boys and girls in the 14-18 age bracket.

“The first link to the NBTC is the BEST 9-13 age group program of SBP youth chairman Nic Jorge,” said Gregorio. “The NBTC is then linked to the national youth or junior teams. This is how we’ve designed the new basketball program in the country.”

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Here’s an interesting reaction to the new PBA philosophy of officiating by skills coach Kirk Collier:

“I went to a fight the other day and a PBA game broke out. We didn’t lose in FIBA-Asia because we couldn’t handle the physical play. In fact, our defense is what kept us in most games. We lost because our offense relied too much on one-on-one and we rarely got past two passes on our halfcourt. 

“Also, we didn’t have an inside game. Allowing this kind of officiating in the PBA will hurt us in FIBA play because instead of moving our feet to defend, we resort to holding and butchery.

“If we allow our big men to develop and put the offensive emphasis on passing, picking, post play and moving without the ball, we can win and even beat China. China has better talent so we need a better system.”

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