Fair Play: Mysterious complainant controls PFF?

(This is the draft of my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu on June 16)
IT'S been three months since the Cebu Football Association held its elections and until now, we have no board recognized by the Philippine Football Federation.


Three months! Twelve weeks! Ninety days!


A lot can happen in three months, or, in this case, nothing does.



The delay is inexcusable since 1.) the outgoing CFA board has said they didn't file the protest and are no longer interested in the position, 2.) the PFF had a representative during the elections and 3.) the new board is just a phone call away if the PFF membership committee wants this resolved.


All this delay makes you wonder—is this deliberate? And nobody’s talking who this complainant is. Who could this be? PFF’s neighbors in the House of Football?


After I wrote about this a couple of weeks back, those in the know—a scribe who has been covering football since folks were still talking about the hand of god goal--said the old guards are back in the PFF.


The old guards who got so comfortable at their positions while Philippine football got stuck in the doldrums until a certain FA president from Leyte rescued it.


The old guards who, in an effort to show their importance, would nitpick over a new member’s application, but would sit silently while questionable financial practices hound the association.


The old guards who would strangely sing a different tune when the then PFF president, who was facing an ouster movement, suddenly received a P20,000 “communication aid” kuno straight to their bank accounts.


Nobody is willing to talk who filed the protest and even PFF president Nonong Araneta said he doesn't know who did.


And in a case like that, the next best question to ask is who benefits from this impasse?


Certainly not the Cebu football community.


Remember, the CFA president sits in the PFF Board of Governors, and if not for this road block, the new president should get his seat in the PFF BOG like what happened during the previous election when Richard Montayre took over Jonathan Maximo's seat.


To be fair, Richard Montayre has repeatedly denied he had a hand in this matter and for the sake of what he has done in the  past four years, let's leave it at that. There's no use opening old wounds that will only hamper the growth of Cebu football.


And the last time I talked with them, the new board is only after that--Cebu football’s development and is not interested in playing the political game in the PFF.  Let them have the PFF BOG seat if that's what whoever is blocking their recognition wants.


Because as of now, everyone in the Cebu football community wants to get started--the new board, the clubs, the referees and the organizers.


Some of the members of the board have already identified sponsors who are willing to help local organizers for their event.  I mean where can you get that? We have sponsors looking for a tournament and not the other way around.


Cebu football's major backer, the Aboitiz Group, is also waiting to kickstart its Aboitiz Football Cup, and the new board has promised to bring back its prestige, where teams would look forward to competing in Cebu's longest-running tournament rather than skip it for a football festival.


That, of course, will have to wait because the PFF membership committee is so busy with something it can’t even address an issue that happened three months ago!


What are they busying themselves with? I have no idea but they have to be busy with something if they haven’t resolved this since the election happened on March 31.


So while they take their time, the new board—a rogue board?—isn’t sitting idly and is plotting their program for the sport.  


As for me? This mysterious complainant piqued my curiosity and if he really exists, you have to admire his power and hold, how he, she or he/she managed to get this delay.


And if he, she or he/she doesn’t exist, well PFF you got screwed.