PFF expenses questioned by FIFA

by rick olivares

THE Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has put the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) under scrutiny for certain items the world-governing body deemed questionable.

In an e-mail to the PFF on May 21, 2010, which was leaked to the BusinessMirror, FIFA inquired on an analysis on its Football Assistance Program (FAP) for 2009 and further sought for an explanation and clarification of the report the PFF made on the FAP.

FIFA provides an annual FAP of $250,000 that is intended for the national team, grassroots programs, national tournaments and others stipulated in the agreement. It is, however, up to the national federation’s discretion on how the funds are to be allocated. As for the PFF, its Board of Governors determines how much is spent on each of the programs.

“Some of the documents and/or information do not comply with our requirements,” FIFA said in the e-mail.

The PFF provided an accounting in a bank statement covering the period of June 2008 up to June 2009. However, FIFA requires a bank statement for the calendar year from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009.

FIFA also noted in the same e-mail that “for the year 2009, the PFF spent $19,991 on women’s football. Already in the past year, the PFF did not fulfill the criteria to spend 15 percent of the FAP funds for women’s football.”

The international federation set a May 31, 2010 deadline to the PFF but the BusinessMirror learned that to date, the PFF hasn’t complied.

In another e-mail on June 3, 2010, FIFA also requested for payment for expenses incurred by PFF officials for the World Cup in South Africa in June. Normally, the president and the general secretary of a national federation attend official FIFA events. For the World Cup, PFF president Jose Mari Martinez took along the PFF’s legal counsel and the local contractor for a football field being built near the Mall of Asia in Manila. The PFF delegation is reportedly being billed for $10, 580 in South Africa.

On September 25 the PFF’s Board of Governors stripped Martinez of the power to authorize cash outflows from the federation’s savings-bank accounts in Banco de Oro and Bank of the Philippine Islands following an official board inquiry about the alleged misuse of funds. It is reported that Martinez was to submit his resignation, but local football officials learned he wouldn’t.

The BusinessMirror persistently contacted Martinez on Monday but got no reply from the national federation president.

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