Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association

The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) is the National Sports Association (NSA) for athletics sports such as track and field, road running, cross country running, and racewalking in the Philippines, including the core athletics sports which constitute the Decathlon in the Olympic Games. PATAFA is also a member of the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) and the World Athletics.

In 2015 the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) formally recognized the NSA after PATAFA met compliance with several requirements such as an updated constitution, by-laws and inclusion of the true stakeholders of the sport.

Jose C. Sering served as president from 1969 to 1981 and from 1984 to 1991. He resigned from his PATAFA post in 1990.

Go Teng Kok served as president from 1990 to 2014. Then known as “GTK’s Army,” Filipino track and field athletes won six gold medals in the 2013 Indonesia Southeast Asian Games, the most by any team in the games.

Philip Ella Juico was elected president of PATAFA in November 2014 and in a second election held on March 25, 2015, with POC Vice President Joey Romasanta as observer.

Juico was re-elected as president of PATAFA in November 2021. He resigned on June 18, 2022, and was replaced by Terry Capistrano.

PATAFA was formerly known as the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association, or simply Athletics Philippines.

PATAFA Board

As of June 2022, PATAFA's board consists of the president and seventeen members.

* President Terry Capistrano
* Chairman Rufus Rodriguez, congressman of the second district of Cagayan de Oro
* Honorary Chairman Senator Christoher Lawrence “Bong” Go
* Secretary-General Rommel Sytin, president of United Asia Automotive Group, Inc. and Foton Motor Philippines, Inc.
* Executive Vice President Agapito Capistrano
* Corporate Secretary Atty. Melinda Diaz-Salcedo, Director Philippine Superliga, Inc.
* Treasurer Noel Silva, Engineer
* Auditor Elmer Ngo
* Trustee Dr. Benjamin Espiritu, former Oriental Mindoro governor
* Trustee Felix O. Tiukinhoy Jr., Cebu businessman
* Trustee Josemarie Diaz, Ilagan City Mayor
* Trustee Rafaelito Villavicencio, sportsman
* Trustee Joseph Anton Bengzon
* Trustee Jaime Villegas
* Trustee Datu Yusoph Mama
* Trustee Dr. Guillermo Torres Jr.
* Trustee Atty. Roberto Uy
* Trustee Go Teng Kok, former PATAFA president

Due Process

For any athlete NSA dispute due process should be followed. PATAFA's By-laws do not explicitly state its dispute resolution mechanism for eligibility issues. However, as PATAFA is an IAAF Member, PATAFA must abide by the rules of the IAAF. Under the IAAF Rules on Disputes and Disciplinary Proceedings, disputes between athletes and their NSAs must be submitted to an impartial and fair hearing body, with the rights of the athlete respected at all times.

Under the IAAF rule 60 Disputes and Disciplinary Proceedings:

In the Obiena dispute it is unclear if the IAAF procedures of due process were followed. PATAFA stated that investigations were conducted by its Administrative Committee who then submitted a fact-finding Report to the PATAFA Board. Commentators questioned whether PATAFA's committee is an “impartial and fair hearing body”.

Controversy

Under Juico, PATAFA has found reasons to disqualify elite athletes from world-class competitions even though they were recently qualified for their event and had won medals. In each case, the athlete was training abroad with an international world-class team who had different training or reporting standards compared to the PATAFA NSA's guidelines and rules.

In 2017, PATAFA expelled Gold medal winner Caleb Stuart, preventing Stuart from competing in the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. Juico claimed misconduct and failure to abide by the body's rules because Stuart did not compete at the National Athletics Open in Isabela. Stuart trained in California under coach Shaun McGinley.

On June 5, 2017, Juico ousted Olympic marathon runner Mary Joy Tabal, from PATAFA not for a specific reason but for causing disruption and divisiveness within the federation. According to Juico "word of honor, fidelity to the national team, respect for athletes and authority, commitment to the federation, and the absence of abhorrent attitude of entitlement." The exact rules or regulations Tabal violated were not specified. Tabal had trained for three months in Tuscany, Italy. She also underwent high-altitude training in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Tabal had many supporters, including Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Commissioner Ramon Fernandez. On the June 15th submission deadline PATAFA reinstated Tabal and she did compete during the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, winning the Philippines first gold medal.

Other ousted athletes included SEA Games 100-meter champion Kayla Richardson, long-distance runner Jessica Barnard and long-jump specialist Donovan Arriola. Juico stated: “They did not submit any report to us. These athletes failed to tell us the status of their training. It goes to show that they do not want to follow our rules at Patafa. We need to monitor their preparations but we received nothing,”

Congressional hearings on the Obiena dispute revealed that PATAFA delays payment funding to all athletes, often by many months, and some who testified considered PATAFA's athlete payment system broken. PATAFA was criticized for its governance of athletes during the hearings, with complaints of athletes being burdened with accounting tasks such as currency conversions, managing team payments and managing cash flow.

In January 2022, PATAFA held a press conference where Juico recommended Olympic athlete Ernest Obiena be expelled from PATAFA, with the ouster deferred until mediation is completed.

Obiena dispute

In late 2021, PATAFA initiated a dispute with Filipino pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena involving the liquidation of finances related to the salary of Obiena's coach. The alleged violations were shown to be sloppy paperwork rather than malicious, but by January 2022 Juico announced Obiena would be expelled from PATAFA.

Ethics violations

The Obiena dispute led to a separate ethics investigation of Juico by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) ethics committee. Based on its investigation the POC board declared Juico as ''persona non grata'' for his role in the harassment of Obiena. The investigation of the POC's ethics committee concluded that Juico had harassed the athlete by making "malicious public accusations". The committee was presented evidence that Juico colluded to create untruthful statements, attempted confidentiality breaches and interferred with sponsorship discussions. These issues were considered unethical and violative of the provisions of the bylaws of POC specifically on uplifting the level of performance of Filipino athletes. The POC stated that Juico was given an opportunity to defend against accusations to his conduct but Juico declined due process. Juico responded that the POC has no jurisdiction over NSAs. The POC clarified the POC's legal prerogative to declare anybody a persona non grata and that PATAFA was not penalized, nor was Juico removed, suspended or reprimanded. The POC general assembly voted on January 26, to enforce the decision of declaring Juico persona non grata following the official's row with pole vault star EJ Obiena. Thirty-six members of the POC general assembly, including Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz and former Olympic swimmer Jessie Lacuna, voted in favor of the decision.

See also

*

References

External links

Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association OFFICIAL WEBSITE
* ttp://www.pinoyathletics.info Pinoyathletics Websitebr>PATAFA Bylaws (2015)

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Sports organizations established in 1962
Athletics in the Philippines
Athletics
National members of the International Association of Athletics Federations