EJ Obiena officially withdraws from PSC mediation offer

Filipino Olympian and pole vaulter EJ Obiena officially withdrew from the mediation process offered by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

In a statement released by his spokesperson lawyer Bobbet Bruce on Monday, Obiena said he is withdrawing "due to the bad faith of Mr. Juico and PATAFA." PATAFA, or the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association, is Obiena's national sports association and Philip Ella Juico is its president.

The PSC offered mediation back in Novermber to resolve the rift between Obiena and PATAFA after allegations made against the athlete.

"The events of the past 7 days have deeply impacted me. It is now irrefutable with the new data emerging that PATAFA manipulated the facts to mislead the public," said Obiena.

The pole vaulter described entering into mediation with one party in bad faith as "a recipe for failure."

"PATAFA was in bad faith this whole time as they signed the mediation with their true intention to still pursue the filing of a baseless criminal case of ESTAFA against me," he said.

"PATAFA has said they want a peaceful resolution, but their actions prove this as a LIE. You cannot have peace while pointing a gun at the other guy’s head, and say 'let’s have a peaceful resolution'. This is the exact opposite of good faith mediation," added Obiena.

Obiena, the world no. 5 in his sport's rankings, also made some claims about PATAFA's involvement in previous statements made by World Athletics official Surgey Bubka and Obiena's coach Vitaliy Petrov.

"They have been telling the public that Sergey Bubka voluntarily executed his affidavit. They omitted the fact that it was Mr. Juico  who prepared the affidavit of Sergey Bubka, instructed him to get it apostilled, paid all associated costs, and cajoled him to sign. They tried the same thing with my coach, Vitaliy Petrov. Using this, they have been manipulating the people into believing their statements that I have not been paying my coach. We have always called this a witch hunt. And clearly it is," said Obiena.

Obiena also said PATAFA only released "selected emails and incomplete email exchanges" in a press conference the organization held on January 4 "to suit their story that I wanted payment for the coaching fee coursed thru me."

"They deliberately excluded the fact that as early as 2020, I have already emailed them Coach Vitaliy’s bank details. Again, this is irrefutably misleading. I never wanted the money to go thru me, but it still did while PATAFA had Coach Vitaliy’s bank details." the pole vaulter said.

Obiena also called out PATAFA for "attacking" his mother Jeannette.

The findings of PATAFA's investigation committee released earlier this month accused Obiena's mother as having misappropriated over P600,000 that she claimed from the PSC.

"Where is the dignity and respect in that? I do not believe I can enter into any mediation with people who are seemingly focused on destroying me," said Obiena.

For the Olympian, he said the problem may be personal but he hopes the solution "would be structural."

"I want to work with an NSA that prioritizes values, integrity and winning medals for our country. Supporting the athlete as a mission, as what good sports leaders do. I am not here to create chaos in Philippine sports but I fight because I don’t want this to ever happen again to any Filipino athlete. Marami na tayong nasayang," Obiena explained.

Despite his withdrawal, Obiena thanked PSC chief Butch Ramirez for his efforts in mediation.

"I believe in mediation as a tool for peace and have full trust and confidence in the integrity of Chairman Butch Ramirez. Unfortunately, it seems that PATAFA is only using mediation as a means to silence me and to keep the truth hidden," said Obiena.

"They always trumpet that I should go to mediation if I have nothing to hide. I have nothing to hide and that is the reason why I do not want to go to confidential mediation. Darkness is the home of the oppressor. I want the truth out in public, the same public where I was judged as guilty without due process by Mr. Juico," he added.

Obiena said he may have lost his faith in Juico, " but I have not lost faith in our country and our country’s true sports leaders."

"I trust that they will set aside politics and do what is RIGHT and good for the country. If all else fails then my NSA would have succeeded in pushing me out of the country. I would be forced to step away from Philippine Athletics," said Obiena.

Obiena reiterated that he only competes for the Philippines and not for Juico.

"Ako si EJ Obiena, Filipino Pole Vaulter. Tumatalon LAMANG para sa Pilipinas at para sa aking mga kababayan."

TIMELINE OF MEDIATION OFFER

The Philippine Sports Commission on November 25, 2021 offered mediation to PATAFA and Obiena to settle their rift which stemmed from Obiena's alleged misuse of financial assistance.

Obiena on December 24, 2021 said he had no issue with the PSC mediation, but wanted the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) probe to finish first.

The result of the POC probe, released on December 28, declared Juico as 'persona non grata,' saying the national Olympic committee no longer recognized Juico as PATAFA president. Juico, however, said he would contest the POC decision.

PATAFA, in a press conference last January 4 which Obiena referred to in his statement, said it had recommended dropping him from the national pool and will file estafa charges. PATAFA, however, said on January 6 that it would defer its decision to drop Obiena.

On January 5, the PSC laid down orders to both PATAFA and Obiena to resolve the issue.

Ramirez, however, said without humility from both sides, the issue will be impossible to resolve.

On January 11, PATAFA formally agreed to the mediation process offered by the PSC. The Obiena camp said they were open to it as well before this latest statement.

—With a report from Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA News