EJ Obiena prepares to make his attempt in the finals of the pole vault competition in the Tokyo Olympics. —PHOTOS BY FRANCIS T. J. OCHOA
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Wednesday said it hopes that issues or disagreements between Olympic pole vaulter EJ Obiena and the Philippine Athletics and Track and Field Association (Patafa) will be “threshed out.”
This remark is in response to Patafa’s decision to drop Obiena from the federation’s National Training Pool of Athletes “effective immediately.”
Cabinet Secretary and acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said Malacañang continues to support Obiena and all other athletes.
“We hope that whatever disagreements he may have or between EJ and the Patafa, hopefully, they will all be threshed out,” he said in a Palace briefing.
Patafa is also eyeing to file estafa complaints against Obienna over EUR 6,000 (P360,000) meant for the salary of the pole vault star’s coach Vitaly Petrov from May 2018 to August 2018.
For this issue, Nograles said to wait for further developments.
He said documents have already been sent to the Philippine Sports Commission and the Commission on Audit.
“Let us await further development in that regard or if they will issue a statement on that matter,” he said.