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Gomez additionally alleges that a number of high officers of the Philippine Fencing Affiliation are utilizing their authority to advertise their enterprise pursuits
MANILA, Philippines – Leyte 4th District Consultant Richard Gomez spoke up but once more on his alleged bodily assault of Philippine Fencing Affiliation (PFA) president Rene Gacuma within the 2025 SEA Video games final December.
This time, nevertheless, the actor-politician is alleging that his actions had been within the spirit of upholding precept.
Gomez took the stand on the Home of Representatives’ common session on Tuesday, January 27, to “expose the reality” and declare that the PFA, Gacuma, and nationwide head coach Ronaldo Canlas had been subjecting Filipino fencers to “bullying” and “an abuse of energy.”
The actor-politician’s public spat with Gacuma got here after the PFA’s choice to interchange first-ranked fencer Alexa Larrazabal with third-ranked Hanniel Abella in a person occasion in the course of the SEA Video games. Gacuma alleged that Gomez stepped on his foot, squeezed his proper thumb laborious, struck his nape, and hurled expletives towards him on the Vogue Island Buying Mall in Bangkok, Thailand.
Gacuma then acknowledged that he would seek the advice of with a authorized counsel to file prices in opposition to Gomez for assaulting him.
Whereas Gomez acknowledged what he did, he defended himself on Tuesday by saying that the PFA’s alternative of Larrazabal violated many guidelines.
“In my over 30 years’ expertise in enjoying and supporting the game of fencing within the Philippines, this had by no means been achieved. By changing the primary participant on the final hours earlier than the occasion, Mr. Gacuma and Mr. Canlas had already violated so many guidelines, each of the PFA and of the Philippine Olympic Committee,” attested Gomez, who’s a PFA director and second vice chairman of the POC.
He claimed that considered one of these guidelines was that the highest-ranked participant is robotically chosen to compete in each the person and crew occasions, which each athletic governing our bodies ignored, and as a substitute, allegedly tried to put the blame on Larrazabal’s conduct.
Larrazabal was changed resulting from her alleged unauthorized and frequent absences from nationwide coaching previously three months, failure to submit required visa journey paperwork for worldwide competitions, and unresponsiveness to fixed and repeated reminders from the nationwide teaching employees and teammates concerning her whereabouts.
Gomez refuted the declare that the transfer was unanimously selected by the PFA, arguing that he would have recognized if the assembly transpired, as he’s a board member himself.
The 59-year-old actor-politician then revealed that he and Larrazabal’s mother and father filed separate complaints in opposition to Gacuma and Canlas for “grave abuse of authority, oppression, favoritism, severe misconduct, and battle of curiosity.”
“If what we’ve got heard to date is already disturbing, let me be clear: that is solely the start. Beneath the facade of a well-run group, there have been quite a few complaints backed by items of proof, not simply of bullying, however of bodily, verbal, and emotional abuse of fencers, even some youthful than 18 years outdated,” Gomez stated.
Gomez proceeded to assert that a number of PFA officers had been utilizing their authority for the good thing about their enterprise pursuits. He alleged that administrative head Sally Arambulo and Canlas are members of the Board of Trustees of a nonstock company referred to as Manila Sports activities Fencing Alliance Integrated, including that its enterprise deal with is similar as that of Canlas Fencing.
Gomez claimed that Arambulo’s heavy involvement in different fencing golf equipment throughout the metro had precipitated younger fencers to give up the game, as she and Canlas allegedly get to determine who will get to compete in sure competitions and which fencers might be included within the rankings.
“There have been stories of fencers whose mother and father have fallen out of Miss Arambulo’s good graces and have since been denied entry into fencing golf equipment. Because of this, a few of these athletes had been compelled to desert the game altogether, whereas others reportedly left the nation simply to proceed fencing with out worry of bullying or exclusion,” stated Gomez.
The Walang Hanggan actor then urged the creation of a legislation that might implement stricter requirements for nationwide sports activities associations for the safety of Filipino athletes.
That is the second time in 4 months that Gomez delivered a privilege speech in Congress to handle his public conduct that had gone viral.
He apologized earlier in September for posting screenshots of messages from a number of Filipino journalists who had been asking for his aspect after he was linked to a flawed flood management challenge by Matag-ob, Leyte Mayor Bernie Tacoy.
– with stories from Delfin Dioquino/Rappler.com
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