Cebu-based international boxing judge Edward Ligas (left) and Edgar Olalo show the affidavit-complaint against former Games and Amusement Board chairman Juan Ramon Guanzon during a press conference at the Abuhan Dos Restaurant.
james savellon
Ligas files administrative, criminal complaints against Guanzon; former GAB chairman refutes allegations
Former Games and Amusement Board (GAB) chairman Juan Ramon Guanzon denied a plethora of allegations hurled against him by Cebu-based international boxing judge Edward Ligas.
Yesterday, Ligas, a noted media personality in Cebu, filed administrative and criminal complaints against Guanzon at the Office of the Visayas Ombudsman for grave misconduct, abuse of authority, violations of anti-graft and corrupt practices, and qualified trafficking.
In his affidavit, Ligas said Guanzon manufactured in September 2013 false certificates and fake documents to allow a certain Janiper Ortiz from Mabalacat, Pampanga, to earn a professional boxing license so she could get the necessary documents to be able to fight in Malvern, Victoria, Australia. Ligas alleged that the woman wasn’t a boxer and that the said boxing event didn’t even exist.
Ligas said Guanzon “maliciously used his government position to attain and accomplish these illegal acts.”
But Guanzon denied any wrongdoing.
“Kalokohan yan. Mali yan. (That’s foolishness. That’s wrong.) I never falsified any documents,” Guanzon, who is now a GAB boxing consultant told Cebu Daily News over the phone last night.
Guanzon attested that Ortiz was a licensed boxer and that he was unaware of the “cancelled” boxing event.
“Boxer naman yun (Ortiz). At tsaka ako pag sinabi ng boxing division na pwede bigyan ng license, binibigyan ko ng license,” he said. (Ortiz was really a boxer. And when the boxing division says one can be given a license, I will give that person a license.)
Ligas called this a “blatant lie.”
“Naay pipila ka babaye nga boxers sa Pilipinas apan walay Janiper Ortiz.” (There are female boxers in the Philippines but none named Janiper Ortiz.)
CDN tried searching for Janiper Ortiz on the internet and found one, a professional model based in Australia. There was one entry of a Janiper Ortiz at the boxing website boxrec.com but there were no details nor records posted. Ligas’ affidavit also stated that Ortiz now works as a freelance model in Australia.
Guanzon, currently the secretary general of the Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation, said he will let his lawyers handle the issue.
“There’s nothing I can do now. If you say he filed a complaint against me, I have to answer that. I will give it to my lawyer, and it’s up to the court to decide.”
According to Guanzon, the case against him was just Ligas’ way to exact revenge since he filed a libel case against the boxing judge in April this year for alleged malicious articles last year.
But for Ligas, the libel case filed against him was just pure harassment.
“[This was done] to silence us from articulating the issues against him. His libel has no basis. Our case against him is strong because of documentary evidences.“
Ligas is currently the president of Professional Boxing Officials of Cebu (PBOC), which is composed of boxing referees, judges, ring physicians, ring announcers and time keepers.