Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia officially submitted House Resolution No. 1073 to the House of Representatives that will look into Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association’s (Patafa) exclusion of Cebuana Olympian Mary Joy Tabal from the national team lineup.
Representative Garcia, former Governor of Cebu, officially submitted the resolution to the Committee on Youth and Sports Development at 4 p.m. on Thursday.
The resolution pushes for an investigation in aid of legislation on the arbitrary exclusion of Tabal as well as others who may be similarly situated, from the Philippine delegation to the 29th Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this August.
The 28-year-old Tabal, a native of Barangay Guba, Cebu City, won a silver medal in women’s marathon in the 2015 edition of the biennial meet in Singapore. She became the first Filpino to compete in women’s Olympic marathon.
Patafa officially removed Tabal from the national team lineup on Monday for allegedly violating some of the federation’s rules.