by rick olivares
Apparently, even in the boardroom, it’s not over until the final whistle.
One week after 25 football associations voted to remove and replace Jose Mari Martinez as president of the Philippine Football Federation, the Federation de International Football Association sent an email letter to interim president Mariano V. Araneta and the rest of the federation that “the proposal of removing you (Martinez) has not been properly put into the agenda of the Congress and we therefore can not acknowledge at this stage the change of presidency.”
The letter sent by FIFA Deputy Secretary General Markus Kattner also mentioned that an extraordinary congress must be called within 90 days time to take up his removal from the position.
In effect, Martinez and the PFF board of governors were reinstated and to continue their pre-November 27 designations.
Araneta expressed displeasure with the decision of FIFA by saying that “they only heard one side. “We have prepared all documents to be sent to FIFA. Meanwhile, we have to insist to Mari that Congress removed him and I was given authority by Congress to replace him. Now only Congress can remove me.”
As of press time, Business Mirror was waiting for a statement from Martinez who did not return our text messages.
Our source in FIFA said that the international governing body of football will likewise conduct its own audit of the PFF and should the findings be similar to the audit of Campos, Campos & Co. there is a possibility that the Financial Assistance Plan given to the Philippines will be suspended.
The PFF receives annually the amount of US $250,000.
The audit by Campos, Campos & Co. showed that some PhP 4 million of PFF funds that were entrusted by Martinez to the illegally appointed Henry Tsai were unliquidated. There were also numerous entries in the accounting where Martinez was purported to use the funds to pay for personal usage such as groceries, medical and credit cards bills, as well as shares in the Valle Verde Country Club.
Tsai and Martinez eventually had a falling out with the latter filing a complaint in court last November 7 against the former for "estafa and the violation of the bouncing check law".
Bleachers' Brew
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How will Martinez be remembered, for sending more teams to international tournaments or for squandering then losing FAP funding?
ReplyDeleteWell it's time for RP football to stand on its own two feet (pun intended). FAP funding should be icing on the cake and not the cake itself.
bin Hammam of the AFF has in interest in keeping Martinez on as long as possible. That's because if he challenges Sepp Blattner for the presidency next year in the FIFA congress, he will need Martinez's support and we all know Martinez will give it.
ReplyDeleteBut then, shouldn't have Herr Blatter instructed Herr Kattner to uphold or stay mum on the decision of the PFF Congress? But it does seem that Kattner acted for the benefit of bin Hammam, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteAnd FIFA/AFC need to complete its investigation before passing judgement.
How easy it is for people to maliciously malign and destroy somebody like Martinez who has been working so hard for PFF, while this same people who have been waiting to strike like deadly cobras are the people who has never done anything for football. They are so power hungry, they will do anything to get it.
ReplyDeleteHow sad that even Media and writers like this one will just write a one sided story with no evidence just because of money!
You can spin all you want but if he was working hard for the PFF, we would have gotten a neutral venue. We all know by now that Martinez is all about Martinez.
ReplyDeleteYou can do your part in influencing public opinion by providing hard facts, and not just contradictory statements.
You could also have implied that many people have not done anything for football and that I might agree with. But let me ask what YOU have done?
These are sad times for RP football, and they happened under Martinez' watch. No one to blame but him.