The tumultuous and controversial three-year reign of Jose Mari Martinez at the top of the Philippine Football Federation is over as he was unanimously ousted in the PFF 7th Ordinary Congress on Saturday at the PhilSports Complex in Pasig City.

Twenty-five presidents of the 29 present members’ football associations (out of the total 33) of the PFF voted to approve a resolution by the eight members of the Board of Governors recommending the removal and replacement of Martinez as president.

Mariano Araneta, current head of the Iloilo Football Association, was named interim president who will serve out the last year of Martinez’s four-year term. Araneta was also the chairman of the PFF’s Finance Committee who launched the probe into the federation’s finances.

Ismael Batiles of the Cagayan de Oro-Misamis Oriental Football Association was named the executive vice president.

Martinez was accused and charged in court for the falsification of public documents when he had a Secretary’s Certificate notarized where one Henry Tsai was named a signatory to the PFF accounts in Banco de Oro and Bank of the Philippine Islands. The board unanimously claimed that there was no motion to include Tsai in the list of signatories.

Tsai, Martinez’s old officemate at Soriamont Steamship Agencies which is owned by Andres Soriano, was first named as managing consultant and later as executive vice president.

The audit by Campos, Campos & Co. showed that over P5 million of PFF funds were entrusted by Martinez to Tsai with close to P4 million unliquidated. There were also numerous entries in the accounting where Martinez was purported to use the funds to pay for personal usage such as groceries, medical and credit-card bills, as well as shares in the Valle Verde Country Club.

The PFF Congress also took him to task for misusing the Financial Assistance Plans annual subsidy from the Federation de International Football Association (Fifa).

In his first year as president, Martinez survived an ouster move when Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Mohammed Bin-Hammam made a guest appearance and announced a gift donation to the PFF of P10 million. Opponents of Martinez decried the move as a “bribe.” Several members then of the opposition bailed out at the last moment when key persons wavered in the move.

On Saturday there was no such break in the ranks. In fact, it was even bolstered by a change in heart of several members of the board who were perceived to be allies of Martinez.

“The decision has been made by a few,” noted Martinez, who retreated to his old office at the PFF House of Football that was a few hundred meters from the PhilSports Complex immediately after his removal. “I only worked for the best of football in this country but apparently, some people want my job because they are envious. Their move was unconstitutional. My lawyers will prepare a rebuttal and we will take this to the next level.”

Johnny Romualdez, chairman emeritus of the PFF and Martinez’s predecessor, said he expects Martinez to contest his ouster with the AFC and Fifa. “It might be bloody but what can we do? We have to do the right thing. This is to save football in our country.”

Martinez conducted one last staff meeting at 8pm. As he closed out his meeting, he had one last pronouncement: “This is a sad day for Philippine football. But Mari Martinez will be back.”

Said Araneta of the whole affair, “There is such a thing as accountability. Obviously, there was none with the previous president.”

Araneta outlined some immediate concerns that the new administration of the PFF will put in effect. “First, we have to hire a lawyer to look into who is culpable in the missing funds and if we should file charges. Hopefully, we can recover them. Two, the board will meet every quarter to implement the programs that we want to put in place. We will get the chairman of each committee from the board so it is functioning. Third, we plan to revive the national tournaments maybe beginning with the Under-19. And fourth, we will look into the operations of the PFF and see how we can streamline the operations. Of course we will reach out to the AFC and to Mr. Hammam regarding the change in leadership and how this came about.”