Blood, sweat, tears win Pinoy Dragon Warriors glory — but not POC recognition

The Philippine Dragon Boat Federation team went home with five golds and two silvers in the recent world championships.

Judith Hakim couldn’t help but get emotional when talking about the hardship experienced by members of the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation team just to compete at the recently-concluded 10th World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in Tampa Bay, Florida.

Devoid of support from the Philippine government, she said that team members had to band together just to make sure they didn’t starve.

“Pasa-pasahan kami magsaing ng bigas,” Hakim, a member of the PDBF board, noted tearfully. “Nagdadala kami ng sako-sako.”

(“We would take turns cooking rice for each other. We even brought our own sacks of rice.”)

Instead, the PDBF had to scrounge for funds from a handful of private sponsors just to make the trip. And while their haul was impressive – with five gold and two silver medals, the team either placed first or second in each event wherein they competed – Hakim said that if the PDBF were able to send its full team to the competition, it would have been able to bring more honor to the country.

Already, the plight of the members of the dragon boat team – nicknamed the Dragon Warriors – and their stunning success in spite of the odds has captured the imagination of the Filipino populace, who are always on the lookout for the latest underdog heroes to fete.

The team currently enjoys unprecedented media attention, and perhaps inevitably, politicians have fallen over each other to “recognize” the achievement of the Dragon Warriors. At least three members of the Philippine Senate, in fact, have filed measures commending the team.

Even Malacañang has gotten into the act, calling on people to show “Azkals-level support” for the team, and asking the Philippine Sports Commission why exactly the successful dragon boat team – obviously one of the best in the world – hasn’t gotten support from the government agency.

In the sports world, medals are the best megaphones, and success is the only pulpit. With their medals and their success, the Dragon Warriors finally got to tell the world their story.

WHILE THE FILIPINO ROWERS’ UNDERDOG TALE has tugged at the heartstrings of Filipinos young and old, rich and poor, there is at least one group of people who remain cool to the drama of the Philippine Dragon Boat team’s made-for-television story: the Philippine Olympic Committee.

The lack of government funding for the world-class dragon boat team can be traced directly from the lack of recognition from the POC, which withdrew its support for the PDBF this year.

In early January, POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. formed a committee composed of officials Manny Lopez, Mark Joseph, and Jeff Tamayo to facilitate the unification of the PDBF with the Philippine Canoe-Kayak Federation. On January 27, the Daily Tribune quoted Joseph saying the POC would take its time handling the merger: “We are not rushing anything because this new to all of us.”

Less than a month later, on February 16, the POC notified the PSC of its decision to reorganize the PDBF under the PCKF. Barely two weeks had passed when, on March 4, the sports commission wrote a letter to the PDBF asking the organization to account for its funds, return borrowed equipment, and vacate its offices in the PSC compound.

STAKEHOLDERS OF THE DRAGON BOAT FEDERATION rejected the plan to reorganize the federation under the PCKF, citing the latter’s lack of success in international competitions.

“Ayaw naming mapasailalim sa isang national sports association na non-producing in terms of medals and winnings in national and international competitions,” explained PDBF president Marcia Cristobal.

(“We don’t want to be part of a national sports association that didn’t produce, in terms of medals and winnings in national and international competitions.”)

Indeed, any comparison between the track records of the PDBF and the PCKF would be lopsided, if not downright laughable. In the 2005 Southeast Asian Games in Manila, the dragon boat team won all six gold medals in the traditional boat race competition, earning the federation the “NSA of the Year” award from the Philippine Sportswriters Association. In the same games, the canoe federation had a measly haul of one silver and two bronzes.

In 2007, the dragon boat team won three silver medals, while canoe-kayak failed to take home any.

Curiously, for 2011, the dragon boat federation had a much more modest funding request compared to the canoe federation. At the start of the year, the PDBF request for an annual budget of some P9.4 million. The PCKF, for its part, requested for P48.2 million.

But its refusal to be folded into the canoe group meant that the PDBF would be stripped of POC recognition. It meant that the team couldn’t call itself the Philippine national squad anymore. Worse, it couldn’t count on any government funding.

Still, the Dragon Warriors decided to paddle on.

THERE WAS A HINT OF IRRITATION IN MARK JOSEPH’S VOICE when he addressed the media on Wednesday about the Philippine Olympic Committee stand on the successful dragon boat team.

“The International Dragon Boat Federation, which held this so-called world championship, is not recognized by the International Olympic Committee.”

A former athlete, Joseph kept a tired, almost exasperated expression throughout the exchange with members of the press.

“We are members of the International Olympic Committee,” he explained. “We have to apply and follow the rules of the IOC, to the letter.”

Joseph, the deputy secretary-general of the POC and the president of the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association, is no stranger to controversy. In July, he was named among the respondents of a lawsuit alleging that he, along with former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation chairman Efraim Genuino and other sports officials, misused P34 million in funds for the training of national swimmers.

“According to the IOC, dragon boat is not a sport; it is a discipline under the International Canoe Federation, which is an affiliate of the IOC. The sport of dragon boat belongs to canoeing, in the sports world.”

THE ISSUE ISN’T CUT-AND-DRIED as Mark Joseph and other Philippine Olympic Committee officials would have everyone believe. To understand the issue better, one has to look at the history of dragon boat as a world sport.

Modern dragon boat as a sport began in Hong Kong in 1976, when its tourist association began organizing races for rowers using traditional Chinese watercrafts. In the early 1980s, proponents of the sport asked the International Canoe Federation to include dragon boat in the organization’s list of disciplines. The ICF refused, and instead suggested that dragon boat be developed independently.

“Dragon boating was not a canoeing discipline and the ICF was not interested to develop it,” said former ICF president Sergio Orsi.

The European Dragon Boat Federation was organized in 1990, followed by the International Dragon Boat Federation in 1991, and the Asian Dragon Boat Federation in 1992. Orsi and the ICF maintained generally good relations with the dragon boat federations, which continued to promote the sport.

But in 1999, with a new president, the ICF suddenly changed its position on dragon boat, claiming that all paddle sports should be under its umbrella. This resulted in a series of arbitration hearings between the two sports federations, which signed an accord in 2003.

The ICF, however, cancelled the agreement in 2004, setting up its own committee for dragon boat, while holding its first dragon boat event in 2005.

By then, the dragon boat federations’ control over the sport had already grown. In 2005, the Olympic Council of Asia decided to recognize the ADBF as the governing dragon boat body, which opened the doors for dragon boat competitions in the Southeast Asian Games, the East Asian Games, and the Asian Games.

The IDBF also received recognition from the General Association of International Sports Federations as the world’s governing dragon boat body in 2007, amid protests from the ICF.

While the IDBF is not yet a member of the International Olympic Committee, it is planning to apply for acceptance once it reaches the quota for the number of member countries or territories. The IOC requires that a world governing body have 75 members, while the IDBF currently counts just 70.

The Philippine Dragon Boat Federation is affiliated with the IDBF and the ADBF, which handles the dragon boat events for the Southeast Asian Games and the Asian Games.

Because the POC withdrew its support from the PDBF, it means that the Philippines cannot send a dragon boat team to the 2011 Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia – not even a team under the auspices of the Philippine Canoe-Kayak Federation.

SO WHY WOULD THE PHILIPPINE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE suddenly withdraw its support from a well-organized, highly-successful sports association that offers a lot of chances for the Philippines to win medals in international competition?

“Politics,” longtime sports observers would say. POC president Peping Cojuangco narrowly retained his post in a tightly-contested election in 2008, one that sharply divided the national sports associations.

The Philippine Dragon Boat Federation cast its lot with Cojuangco’s rival for the post, former Philippine National Shooting Association president Art Macapagal. PDBF board member Judith Hakim ran under Macapagal’s ticket while current secretary-general Nestor Ilagan campaigned hard for Cojuangco’s challenger.

Cojuangco has continued to deny that politics were involved in decisions regarding the PDBF, but since his re-election, there has been a curious litany of trials for the Philippine dragon boat team.

In March 2009, Cojuangco first broached the idea of folding the PDBF under the Philippine Canoe-Kayak Federation, which was headed by his close ally, Sim Chi Tat. Those plans fizzled, but the PDBF continued to have a contentious relationship with the POC president. In May 2009, the dragon boat federation, through its president Marcia Cristobal, was among the signatories to a complaint against Cojuangco sent to the International Olympic Committee.

Then in 2010, the Philippine dragon boat team was left off the roster for the Guangzhou Asian Games. Despite winning gold medals in IDBF world championship events, the POC still requested the rowers to undergo time trials to prove that they deserved a spot in the Philippines’ Asiad delegation.

The dragon boat team offered to conduct the time trials at Manila Bay, where they hold their training, but the POC refused, saying that water conditions there were different from those in Guangzhou.

Instead, the POC requested that the trials be conducted at the La Mesa Watershed, which it said would have similar water conditions in China.

The PDBF acceded to the request, and the time trials were conducted. But while the rowers turned in good times during the trials, POC observer Jeff Tamayo expressed doubts about the results of the trial, hinting that the clock had been fixed.

Ilagan, who was coaching the dragon boat team, denied the allegations, while pointing out that it was the POC that provided the technical personnel to facilitate the trials.

Despite appeals from the rowers, the POC kept them off the Asiad delegation. “The board maintained that the time trial results reflected that our dragonboat teams are not in the best shape for the Asian Games considering the quality of the competition,” POC chairman Monico Puentevella told the Philippine Daily Inquirer shortly after the committee’s decision.

PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN EDWIN LACIERDA WAS EFFUSIVE in his praise for the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation team when he spoke about their victories on Tuesday

“Through their success in the 10th International Dragon Boat Federation World Championships held in Tampa Bay, Florida, the Philippine dragon boat team has once again brought attention to the world-class talents of the Filipino people,” he said.

“We believe the Philippine dragon boat team will continue to bring honor to our country and that they will remain a sterling example of discipline and determination to the Filipino people as we steer the rudders of our ship of state toward communal and equitable progress.”

The Philippine Olympic Committee, whose president, Peping Cojuangco, is an uncle of President Benigno Aquino III, didn’t exactly share the sentiments of Malacañang.

“They should follow the rules. All Filipino athletes, if they claim to be national athletes, if they claim to be athletes, if they claim to be in sports, the very first thing they should do is follow the rules,” said deputy secretary-general Mark Joseph.

“The doors of the Philippine Canoe-Kayak Federation is open to them, and the POC will assist them in every way.”

Members of the dragon boat team, for their part, want to just continue being able to compete for the glory of the country, calling on the public and the government for support.

“Ayaw namin ng gulo,” said Judith Hakim. “Masayang sport naman ang dragon boat.”

(“We don’t want to make a mess, because dragon boat is a happy sport.”)

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