MANILA, 16 November — Disgruntled national athletes, coaches and officials as well as employees transformed themselves into street parliamentarians, if not crusaders, when they staged protest rallies to call for the resignation of top officials in the anomaly-rich Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

The ouster of Carlos Tuason as chairman of the PSC — the country’s policymaking body in sports, was tops in the agenda of the discontented Athletes and Coaches Alliance of the Philippines (ACAP).

Tuason had repeatedly discouraged them to hold protest actions in order to convey their sentiment to the PSC. Still, the ACAP pushed through with their rallies.

The ACAP had already staged three mass actions to demand for the ouster of Tuason and three of his commissioners on allegations of massive graft and corruption, gross negligence and mismanagement.

It all started last March when a group of athletes, coaches and officials staged a protest rally in Malacaang, the seat of the national government, demanding a revamp in the agency. Two more rallies were held since then — the latest being a vigil that did not last long.

Led by weightlifter Jaime Sebastian, along with several PSC employees, ACAP held a rally-vigil in front of the PSC Administration Building at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex where Tuason and his commissioners hold office. The rallyists wore a uniform shirt and armbands that had the sign “Save RP Sports.” Sebastian said the protest rally was planned not only by his group, which according to him has a membership of more than 300 active athletes and coaches, but also by other sectors of society with genuine concern for Philippine sports.

Those who joined the rallies took turns in lambasting the agency and distributed leaflets bearing their demands and complaints.

Challenged by the beleaguered Tuason himself to show evidence of graft and corruption against him, ACAP filed graft charges against Tuason before the Office of the Ombudsman.

In his two-page complaint filed before Graft Investigation Officer Donna Pascual of the Office of the Ombudsman, Sebastian accused Tuason of violating Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Sebastian said Tuason violated the law when he paid for the liability of the defunct Project: Gintong Alay worth 697,000 pesos to the Hi-Cool Marketing Corp.

He said the payment of Gintong Alay’s 1988 debt was a violation of RA 6847, or the PSC law, which stated that the PSC was not supposed to absorb the liabilities of the disbanded organization.

He charged Tuason of allegedly gaining kickbacks on the agency’s contracts with a security company, which is said to be owned by Atong Ang, a well-know crony of the deposed president Joseph Estrada.

Sebastian also cited Tuason’s alleged failure to make a disbursement report on some Peso 1 million advance payment by the Philippine Basketball Association (BAP) for use of PSC facilities. The amount was supposed to go to the PSC-Partnership Program for Sports For All special account.

But the PSC chief remained unbothered, and he welcomed the ACAP move “to clear my name.” “It is the right of every man to air his opinion and seek redress for his grievances, but I also have the right to defend myself,” Tuason said.

He described the ACAP move as an act of “pure harassment.” “The charges could be part of an ongoing campaign to discredit the PSC and sow chaos in the sports community by unseen hands with selfish motives,” Tuason said.

Last week, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo met with Sebastian and with other ACAP officials, who personally aired their grievances against the current PSC leadership before the Chief Executive.

It marked the first time that the disgruntled athletes, coaches and officials got an audience with the president after two unsuccessful tries — and the first time, too, that she went out of her way to meet them to tackle controversies in sports. The first time they tried to talk to the president was in March when they staged a protest rally in Malacaang but were welcomed, instead, by then Executive Secretary Renato de Villa.

They clamored for a drastic change in the sports agency, particularly the ouster of Tuason, who had maintained he is serving at the pleasure of the President. Meaning, only the president can remove him from office.

Immediately, Arroyo ordered the investigation of the alleged irregularities in the PSC shortly after meeting with them at Malacanang.

“You have the right to express your feelings about Philippine sports,” Sebastian, who was elected president of the Philippine Weightlifting Association (PWA) recently, quoted the President as saying. “I’m aware of what’s happening in the PSC. It’s a troublesome agency from the start.” The President, however, ordered Sebastian to stop their protest rally and, instead, open venues for dialogues.

“I’m not affected by rallies anymore.” Sebastian added that the President promised to listen to their complaints anytime they wish as long as they do not resort to staging marches and protest in seeking redress.

They submitted a manifesto that supports their demand for a revamp in the PSC, a copy of their complaint filed at the Ombudsman and photographs of the dilapidated quarters of athletes inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

Speculations abound that the meeting was facilitated by PSC commissioner Cynthia Carrion, a close friend of the president who is reportedly being endorsed by the ACAP as the best possible replacement for Tuason.

Carrion, who was appointed to the agency by Arroyo only this year, admitted holding meetings with the rebellious group, but reiterated she was not plotting to oust Tuason. She denied that she’s interested in the top PSC post even though the ACAP had recommended her for the job.

“It (chairmanship) is not my ambition,” she pointed out.

She said her recent meetings with top ACAP officials didn’t mean that she’s behind the plot to oust Tuason.

“When they come to me, I don’t push them away. I listen to them and try to put things in order,” said Carrion a day after accompanying ACAP officials to Malacaang for a rare meeting with Arroyo, her former classmate at Assumption.

Carrion believed that removing Tuason from office would not solve all the problems hounding local sports. “We need to change some policies for the betterment of RP sports. We need changes from within the PSC. But it doesn’t mean a revamp,” said Carrion.

Tuason had met with representatives of the ACAP last month and promised to meet all their demands, particularly the improvement of their living conditions, adding that the PSC was not turning a deaf ear to the protesters.

The dialogue was the reason the group had decided not to push through with an earlier protest rally.

“We are happy that he (Tuason) came to see us, but we have yet to see if he could fulfill his promise,” Sebastian had said then. “We want to see something before November ends because we only want the basic necessities for the athletes and coaches.” The ACAP was dissatisfied. They staged a protest rally.

Demands

Among their demands were quick repairs of their shabby athletes’ quarters inside Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, increase in salaries and training allowance, preferential treatment to local coaches over foreigners and elimination of red tape in the PSC.

Sebastian said their foremost complaint was the condition of all the quarters in the RMSC where 200 athletes and coaches reside. “It floods during rainy days because rainwater drips from the ceiling. But what’s ironic is that there is no water supply in those towers,” said Sebastian, once dubbed as the “strongest man” in Southeast Asia after winning 24 gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games during his long and fruitful career as a weightlifter.