PHILIPPINE Sports Commission (PSC) commissioner Ramon Fernandez was tasked to resolve an issue between the Philippine Athletics and Track and Field Association (Patafa) and Cebuana Olympian Mary Joy Tabal.
PSC chairman Butch Ramirez asked Fernandez to talk to Patafa chief Philip Juico as to why Tabal is not on the list of athletes who will compete in the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in August.
The 27-year-old Tabal from Cebu is the first Filipina to compete in the women’s marathon. She accomplished this last year when she qualified for the Rio Olympics.
But there were a lot of obstacles for Tabal before she could compete in the Olympics, particularly with the Patafa. But the Tabal camp and Patafa came into terms just before the quadrennial multisporting meet, paving the way for her inclusion to the athletics lineup for the Rio Games.
But a month after she competed in the Olympics, Tabal and the Patafa parted ways again.
“We are confused why Joy is not on the list when in fact she represented us in the Olympics last year, qualified for it and even won a silver medal in the 2015 SEAG in Singapore and also a champion of Milo Marathon. I cannot understand why she is not on the national team’s list,” Fernandez said.
“We told Joy not to worry because we will approach Patafa and ask them what is going on and what is the main reason why she is not on the list. We will try our best to bring her back to the national team.”
Fernandez has asked Tabal to make an incident report about all that has happened between her and the Patafa so he can have a clearer picture of what happened.