The threat of removal from the national team and possible charges of estafa against Ernest John Obiena and members of his family no longer hangs above the head of the embattled Filipino pole vaulter. For now.
This is after the board of the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association postponed for two weeks the implementation of the recommendations made by a four-man fact-finding body that looked into his case over the last two months.
This also means there is still time for both the 26-year-old Obiena and his mother federation to head back to the table to settle their differences, with the Philippine Sports Commission watching over the talks.
“The PATAFA has agreed to defer the implementation of the recommendations made by the fact-finding report for a two-week period. PATAFA urges all parties to submit to PSC mediation and explain liquidation,” said PATAFA chairman, and Misamis Oriental Congressman (second district) Rufus Rodriguez in his letter to PSC chairman Ramirez.
It was not yet known whether Obiena would submit to the new call for PSC mediation, which he has already rejected in the past.
The board decision made by the PATAFA came a day after the government sports agency urged all parties involved to enter into a PSC-handled mediation and for Obiena to settle his liquidation issues.
“This decision is and has always been consistent with PATAFA’s consent and willingness to submit to the PSC’s offer for mediation,” said Rodriguez.
The PSC, the government sports body that funds all national athletes, on Wednesday took a firmer stand on the issue and told the parties involved to settle their differences “like sportsmen.”
The conflict began when the PATAFA discovered in a casual conversation with pole vault great and World Athletics official Sergey Bubka that Obiena’s coach Vitaliy Petrov has not been getting his salary from 2018 to 2021.
Obiena later admitted paying his coach in full only last November, 2021 and saying “paying late is not a crime.”
Meanwhile, Obiena said he feels uncertain and alone as he prepares for the the Init Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe in Germany.
“It’s roughly 20 days from now. I need to open my indoor season, which kind of brings questions right now. I don’t know what is really going to happen,” said Obiena during an online interview with ANC Headstart on Thursday.