In late 2021, the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA), led by President Philip Juico, initiated a dispute with Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena involving the liquidation of finances related to the salary of Obiena's coach Vitaliy Petrov.
The dispute became public in November 2021 when the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that PATAFA demanded Obiena return financial assistance funds meant for Petrov, accusing the pole vaulter of falsifying liquidation reports and embezzlement. The accusation was strongly disputed by Obiena and Petrov.
The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) has repeatedly attempted to arrange mediation for the two parties involved and the PSC even signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center (PDRC). However Obiena has declined mediation stating PATAFA is acting in bad faith. Obiena also noted that mediation is confidential and he would like the facts of the case to become public.
The Philippine Olympic Committee and its general assembly members after a full vote have declared Juico as persona non grata officially withdrawing its recognition of the PATAFA president due to evidence presented to its ethics committee involving Juico's behavior before and during the dispute. Evidence included that Juico had colluded to create untruthful statements. PATAFA responded by recommending the expulsion of Obiena from the national training pool.
Obiena hired the firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to verify the accounting and bank details involving Petrov and Obiena has submitted this liquidation report directly to the PSC, claiming it exonerates him. The Commission on Audit COA and the PSC are still reviewing Obiena's financial documents. On January 27, 2022 COA stated they scrutinized Obiena's financial reports and have found nothing irregular so far. On March 31, 2022 COA officially cleared Obiena of any wrongdoing.
Due Process
In 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 case 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”.
Background
Obiena began training with coach Petrov in 2014. The PSC approved funding for Petrov but liquidation was supposed to be handled through PATAFA. On many occasions, due to accounting and currency exchange difficulties, Obiena requested PATAFA to directly pay Petrov as shown in email exchanges to PATAFA as early as June 8, 2020. Local Filipino coaches are often paid directly by PATAFA in Philippine Pesos, but Petrov is an international coach working in Italy and requires payment in Euros. Philippine Pesos cannot directly be exchanged into Euros, but must first be exchanged to dollars, then dollars converted to Euros. Bank wire and exchange fees cost an average of $50 per transfer, an expense that Obiena paid from his personal funds.
On Feb. 16, 2021 Juico stated:
The PATAFA system required signed receipts prior to reimbursement, requiring the athlete to front the money for unexpected expenses. Petrov was aware of these payment difficulties with PATAFA and when contacted by Juico believed he was helping to improve PATAFA's inefficient system. No language translator was available to help Juico and Petrov, communicate during their meeting. These topics were never mentioned or acknowledged by Juico and further PATAFA deceptively modified email exchanges to make it appear Obiena never sent Petrov's banking details.
In Congressional hearings, Obiena noted that PATAFA had difficulties managing the needs of the team during the Tokyo Olympics. International flights and hotels arrangements were sometimes bungled. Obiena's poles were ordered and delivered late on several occasions, almost missing the Tokyo olympic deadline. Without poles Obiena would have been unable to compete in the Olympic events. These private PATAFA mistakes caused undue stress for the Obiena team.