MONICO PUENTEVELLA, the former chairman of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), sounded biblical in bidding 2021 goodbye.
“Let him who has no sin cast the first stone,” Puentevella said in a year-end statement sent to media outlets.
It was his way of reacting to the POC’s earlier decision to declare Patafa (Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association) president Philip Ella Juico persona non grata, a Latin phrase meaning “an unwelcome person.”
Diplomacy-wise, the term refers to a foreign person whose entering or remaining in a certain country is prohibited by that country. The phrase received diplomatic meaning at the 1961 Vienna convention for diplomatic relations.
In declaring Juico persona non grata, the POC obviously didn’t approve of Juico’s handling of EJ Obiena when Juico publicly castigated the ace pole vaulter, now ranked No. 3 in the world, for late payment of the salaries of Obiena’s Ukrainian coach.
In his defense, Obiena said, “Late payment is never a crime.”
Did Puentevella mean that both Juico and Obiena sinned?
“If you are following the Juico/Obiena drama,” said Puentevella, “both sides claim they are right. Yet, possibly both could also be wrong.”
He went on to bat for harmony between Obiena and Juico in particular, and between Juico and the POC in general.
“Instead of looking for ways to settle the problem, we just succeeded to divide the whole POC again,” said Puentevella, himself a former POC president. “Please defer the decision and have the parties meet and make a better year-ender for all sports-loving Filipinos.”
But Juico appeared more combative than cooperative.
“Of course, we will fight it,” Juico told the Inquirer’s Musong R. Castillo. “We will contest it (persona non grata) all the way.”
It marked only the second time that the president of a national sports association was meted that dignity-diminishing edict.
Ironically, Puentevella was POC head when the POC declared Go Teng Kok, then athletics chief, persona non grata. And, yes, Juico succeeded the now-retired Go TK.
As for Obiena, he looks fine. With POC president Bambol Tolentino backing him up, how can he go wrong?
THAT’S IT Through thick and thin, in good times and in bad times, whether we’re in touch face-to-face or not, Happy New Year! We should never lose hope because, after reciting our fervent prayers, hope will always be our last defense to truly make our offense work.