Suspension illegal - TATAP

MANILA, Philippines - Table Tennis Association of the Philippines chair Alvin Carranza yesterday said the decision of the TATAP president to impose a lifetime ban on one of the country’s top players had no board approval.

Carranza said Jose Ortalla Jr., the acting TATAP president in the absence of Col. Cesar Binag, who is on leave, is “not authorized” to level such suspension on any member of the national team without going through the process.

“There was no board meeting or quorum on the matter. No board decision or signature was approved or passed,” said Carranza in reaction to the controversy that leaves a big question mark on the entire association.

“”He doesn’t have a board resolution signed by majority of the board members and he is not authorized to do such acts without the approval of the board of directors. There was no quorum. It’s an illegal order,” he added.

Ortalla imposed a lifetime ban on the country’s No. 2 player, Isaias Seronio, due to the latter’s alleged failure to pay for his accommodation during the World Table Tennis Championships in Moscow last May 23-30.

Seronio said he joined the RP team to Moscow under Ortalla’s condition that he shoulder his own expenses, including his airfare and other expenses in Moscow.

But Seronio said he shouldn’t be blamed if Ortalla faced a bill of more than $3,000 at the Cosmos Hotel because it was for the two rooms that Ortalla allegedly booked for some other persons.

Unfortunately, these persons begged off at the last minute, and Seronio claimed Ortalla was billed for the rooms for his failure to cancel the bookings on time.

Ortalla could not be contacted through his cell phone yesterday.

Jose Emmanuel Disini, president and CEO of dotPH Domains Inc. (the top-level internet domain for the Philippines), said he sponsored Seronio for the Moscow trip, and paid for the player’s airfare.

Disini, a big supporter of table tennis in the Philippines, said he stayed in a different hotel in Moscow, the Renaissance Hotel, shouldered his own expenses, and therefore had nothing to do with the bills Ortalla had incurred at the Cosmos Hotel.