Young tanker files case vs PASA chief

MANILA, Philippines - A young swimmer yesterday filed a case against Philippine Aquatic Sports (PASA) Association president Mark Joseph for violation of Republic Act 7610 otherwise known as the special protection against child abuse, exploitation and discrimination.

Paul Jerome Carpio submitted his affidavit of complaint to the Prosecutors Office in Quezon City where he is from. The court case stemmed from Carpio’s alleged failure to compete in the 43rd Sabah Age-Group Swimming Championships in January of 2010.

Carpio was among the Filipino swimmers aged 15 to 17 years who were invited to compete at the Kota Kinabalu Sports Complex. The invitation was coursed through the Aquatic Sports Association of the Philippines (ASAP).

Carpio was qualified to compete in the 50-meter freestyle and 200-meter freestyle relay events but alleged that upon the intrusions of Joseph he failed to compete.

In the complaint, Joseph allegedly said that the swimmers’ passports and other papers were fake, prompting the organizer to scrutinize the documents of the Filipino swimmers.

Furthermore, the Filipino delegates were given the condition that they can be allowed to compete only if they agreed to represent the Northern Borneo team. The swimmers refused, and were not able to compete.

Because of the incident, Carpio said he suffered embarrassment, humiliation, and emotional and psychological disturbance, forcing him to lodge the formal complaint against Joseph.

The PASA president issued a statement to the press upon learning of the complaint.

 “That same case was filed against me last year and was dismissed. Without seeing the actual complaint, I can’t really make comments but you can be assured that we definitely followed the rules of the international swimming federation (FINA) as we always do.

 “We must remember that it was the Malaysian swimming federation (ASUM) that did not allow the swimmers from the Philippines to compete in Sabah,” said Joseph.