From Sun.Star Cebu, by Rene H. Martel

CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña will not reconsider the one-year suspension imposed on the Abellana National School (ANS) football team after its coach appealed that the players be excluded from the punishment. 

The team joined a Dumaguete City sporting event last July without permission from the Department of Education (DepEd) and the City Government. 

Worse, the school represented Cebu Province instead of Cebu City, prompting the mayor to ask for the imposition of a penalty. 

After an investigation, Cebu City Schools Superintendent Lorna Rances ordered a one-year ban on the team and coach Francis Ramirez. 

The order prevents the team from joining the Milo Olympics this Friday, the City Olympics, and other DepEd-sanctioned activities, including the district and division meets. 

The ANS, therefore, does not have the chance to represent Cebu City in the Palarong Pambansa. 

Interviewed by Sun.Star Cebu last Tuesday, Ramirez said he will accept the sanction, but begged that the players be spared, especially that not all of them joined the Philippine Olympic Festival in Dumaguete. 

But in a press conference yesterday, the mayor said the suspension stays. 

“When you do an act in your authority as head of the team, the team will suffer for whatever actions you did. Otherwise, he will do it again,” the mayor said. 

“Why do we sanction these people? It is also to set that everybody has to follow the rules and know the consequences for breaking the rules,” he added. 

He said that if he will spare the students, Ramirez might again have them join tournaments without informing the DepEd and the City. 

In a letter to ANS principal Ernesto Jacel explaining his side, Ramirez said the trip to the Philippine Football Festival was sanctioned by the Cebu Football Association. 

They left for Dumaguete last July 22, and was told after they arrived there that participating teams must represent the local government units they came from. 

Since there was already another team that represented Cebu City, the ANS team was registered as from the Cebu province, to which he reluctantly agreed, fearing that the sponsors might get angry at him. 

And seeing that the players were “very expectant” in joining the games and had already sacrificed a lot, he decided to agree on the arrangement. 

However, Sun.Star Cebu already reported last July 12 that ANS will represent Cebu Province, while Paref-Springdale will don Cebu City’s colors in the event. 

During the launching of the press conference of the Milo Olympics last Sept. 4, I specifically asked Ricky Ballesteros what Abellana National School team was suspended.  

He said, when he first got the memo, only the “ANS football team” was listed and he asked DepED for a clarification.  But the suspension stands.

The whole ANS team is suspended.  

Nevermind if only seven players, according to a source, from ANS played in that team.  Everybody will miss out on the Milo Little Olympics and the Cebu City Olympics.

Francis Ramirez, and the ANS football team has been suspended from joining tournaments for a year after joining the POF festival in Dumaguete.

The team, which represented Cebu province in the tournament, asked permission from their principal, who in turn, failed to inform DepEd about their participation.

The principal, in turn, admitted his lapse and is taking full responsibility for the error.

But whatever the principal says now, or in the future, the team stays suspended from the Milo Little Olympics, and sadly, the Cebu City Olympics, which it has won regularly over the years.

The Sun.Star report didn’t say anything about the sanction against the erring principal, who I think, deserves to be sanctioned for sleeping on the job.

The coach, according to the report, did his.  He informed the principal of the week-long tournament in Dumaguete.  And the players?  They did what anyone would do, follow where the coach goes.

On the other hand, though failing to inform DepED may be the official reason for the suspension, I think, ANS, which sits right smack in the middle of Cebu City, representing Cebu Province in the tournament maybe the real reason for it.

Collateral damage, you may call it, for the war between the lady governor and the city mayor.

Add to this, if my sources are correct, ANS was sponsored by Ciudad de Cebu, the project of the governor long stalled because of the falling out with Mayor Osmeña.

Football sponsorships are hard to come by, and Coach Ramirez, may have been just too thankful for a sponsor and didn’t mind the political implications, it’s football, not politics.

Now, he and his team sits out the rest of the year.

As to the principal?

It’s interesting how the Cebu Football Association would act–if they will take such actions at all–in this matter.  After all, the CebuFA is the REASON why ANS got suspended in the first place.

Why send two Cebu teams?

Things are looking good for the Cebu teams in the POF with thier victories over the other favorites in the Visayas Eliminations.

That is, until 3 p.m. today. July 26.

Both teams, mentored by Mario Ceniza and Francis Ramirez, will face off with each other again, in a rematch of the Cebu Inter Club finals just a few months ago.

I’ve been remissed in updating with the football scene and a cursory check at pinoysoccer.com and an insider’s take on local developments makes me feel justified in leaving the scene.

A hurriedly-patched together Philippine Premier League for Manila teams to be launched together with Sepp Blatter’s visit?  Another resignation, and a threat of suits in the PFF?  A coup of sorts in San Roque?

What gives?

We’ve all been caught in a traffic jam, once or twice a day, and wished why won’t anybody obey the rules of the road? Why can’t red mean stop once in awhile.

We’ve all had our say, and sometimes, we took that just little bit of leeway to gain an inch, deny another motorist. Or sometimes, we cheered while the driver finally decided to beat the red light, or drive the opposite lane (I know I did).

We’ve had our say.

We’ve all been in this situation before. Once or twice a tournament, we curse the imbeciles of our FAs. They should do this, they should do that. Why are they doing that?

We’ve had our say.

Now is the time to “have our act.”

It’s called The Project.

Donate. Give. Act. Do.

Whatever you can.

It’s not simply about money. I don’t have any. You’ve got books, DVDs, used spikes, magazines—anything football.

If you don’t have any of these, don’t fret. If you’re good with computer skills, go check out all the Philippine football videos at youtube, edit it, put it in one DVD. Some kid in a barrio not far away will see that video and promise to himself, “Someday, I will be in that video.”

This is about DOING something.

If you don’t have such skills, fret no more, go tell your friends, spread the news.

Act. Do.

For when the time comes when you get asked what have you done for Philippine football, at least…saying you’ve answered all questions, posts in anything related to Philippine football in all the internet forums won’t be the first thing in your mind.

The Associated Press ran a story today, about Argentina solidifying its hold of the top spot of the Coca Cola World Rankings over Brazil.

Then at the bottom part of the story, it mentioned, this month’s biggest jumper is the Philippines, up 19 places to 170.

To be honest, I looked a bit like a crazy dude to be raising his arms, like Rocky, in a quite newsroom, while whispering Yes!

Philippine football’s presence, in the internet, was pretty much as rare as football’s presence in Philippine media.

Then Philfootball.info came along and gathered the fans.  The site was basically just a forum, a place where fans gather. The influence of that forum shall forever be felt with the name Azkals, as it was in that forum that the name was coined.

Then Pinoysoccer.com came along.  The site gave and continues to give what Philfootball.info lacked, football news, columns, updates and of course—the forum.

It can’t be denied that Philippine football is growing, the national team is finding success in the international arena, we are the whipping boys of Southeast Asia no more.

Thanks to the Fil-foreigners.  Thanks to the fans, thank to THE fan.

For it was THE fan, as the story goes, who “discovered” the Younghusbands of Chelsea, from of all things, a PC game. That fan alerted the PFF and the rest, as the cliché goes, is history.

That fan and others like him, is what define Pinoy football and Pinoysoccer.com.

They are hungry for news and updates, the recent crash of the website during the Asian Challenge Cup shows that hunger.

However, the website is experiencing new territory.

The previous administration simply ignored the site. That’s nothing new.

However, the current administration seems determined to ignore the site, and worse, wants Pinoysoccer.com to feel it is being ignored.

If the president was pissed because of the April Fools’ Joke then he should be prepared to deal with the fans’ reaction to his actions.  The April Fools’ Joke revealed the fool and the joke.

The president can ignore the fans for as long as he wants, after all, he can buy all the space that he can in the papers to proclaim his empty achievements.

But one thing he may have forgotten.

Azkals live and thrive without attention.

Kick ‘em.

Shoo ‘em.

Hit ‘em.

They still thrive.

And sometimes, just sometimes, they bite when least expected.

THE San Roque Football Club Girls 17-team overcame some sloppy work in a penalty shootout to rule the 4th Gus Uriarte Memorial Football Festival in Bacolod City last weekend.

Coached by Eleazer Toledo, the 12-girl team finished unscathed in the elimination round before facing San Carlos City in the semifinals.

The team, bannered by Monica and Maritoni Trebol, Renee Songalia, Jackie Ting, Elsie Ann Juezan, Angeli Ruete, KC Catarenen, Shandra Gail Colina, Cheska Jane Toledo, Ayana Gaitera, Maricris Tira–do and Aleli Mejias, found itself trailing 1-0 in the first eight minutes.

Ting equalized a few minutes after an impressive first touch allowed her to redirect Songalia’s cross to force the extension. After a scoreless extension, the match went to shootout and San Roque seemed headed to an early exit as Ruete’s brilliance between the posts was matched by futility

by Songalia, Mari–toni and Juezan, who all missed their penalties.
In the sudden-death shootout, Monica, who earned the MVP, converted her spot kick for the winning goal and arranged a championship with University of St. La Salle.

Juezan redeemed herself in the final after scoring the winning goal just four minutes into the game for the title.

Earlier in the elimination round, San Roque drew with La Salle, 1-1; blasted SSB Foundation 4-0; blanked Taytung, 2-0; and sneaked past Domingo Lacson, 1-0.

Meanwhile, national team skipper Emilio Caligdong lead West Negros A to the Men’s Open crown over West Negros B, while San Car–los FC won the Women’s Open
title.

The event was organized by the USLS Varsity and Alumni football team headed by Rani Teresa Alisan and Daisy Jane Dayon.

After a year’s absence, the Aboitiz Cup will be back, or so said the new CebuFA board.

Good news is, the new board will retain the two divisions for the Men’s Open, while there will be new age groups for Girls Football.

Now the question is, with the recent reshuffling of the teams in the Men’s Open, how will they determine which one gets to play in which division?

Also, this year, the CebuFA will finally take on the registration of individuals for its database.

But this P100 per head is sure going to raise a lot of questions (at least I will).

I may be wrong but there could be at least, a thousand players (more if we consider all the individuals involved in football) in Cebu where does the money go?

As to these database. I’m not such a big fan with how the CebuFA handled the data in their first tournament (Yes the Inter Club was officially a Queen City-organized event, but it still WAS a CebuFA event), will this new database be anything different?

Will these be just scraps or pieces of papers, tucked in a folder and left to rot until the next registration phase? Or

will this be a real database, where anyone who wants to question that “data of a certain player or individual” can access?

We’ll see.

And finally. I asked Richard whether the CebuFA will ever consider putting up a website, they said yes. I hope that happens sooner rather than later.

Putting this database on the CebuFA website, which anyone can access, sounds like a swell idea don’t you think?

I’ve long wanted to write about the “Fil-foreigners” rather on the use of the term ever since I heard Chad Gould’s father’s remarks during Mari Martinez’s visit in the CebuFA elections.

(Please check Jack Biantan, my former boss’, column at Pinoysoccer.com for reference.
To sum it up, the term Fil-foreigners, according to the senior Gould, is an insult, since these folks are 100 percent Filipinos.

They got it wrong.

The Fil-foreigner tag isn’t supposed to denote a Pinoy’s lineage, it simply serves to identify where that certain Pinoy learned the sport. Note that the “Fil-foreigner” is a term unique to Philippine football—owing perhaps to football’s global reach.

In the PBA, they are identified as Fil-Ams, or Fil-Tsongan, or as others would have it, as Fil-Shams.

These Pinoys learning of the sport–and training—is what makes them different. It’s not about lineage, or ancestry. Hence, the Fil-foreigner tag. By being named or tagged as a Fil-foreigner, they are supposed to save or to deliver…lineage notwithstanding (unless you include the purists)…Philippine football from the doldrums.

Why then do we have reports that say, the Philippine team, bannered by Fil-foreigners…or the Philippines will pin its hope on basketball gold on Fil-Ams…It is never–and was NEVER– about lineage, it is always about skills.

Take the case of billiards for crying out loud. If football has Pele, or basketball has Jordan, we have Efren Reyes. Do we have FIl-foreigners in billiards? We don’t! Instead, we have players who are identified as “Filipinos who are now based in Indonesia, Malysia or Dubai.”

No Fil-foreigners!

To the Goulds, Younghusbands, Greatwitches, Del Rosarios, don’t you ever think that being branded a Fil-foreigner is an insult. It isn’t. It should be an honor, and a privilege, something you must prove that you deserve, hence you have local players asking, what does this dude have against me that I don’t and have not experienced..except for the place where he learned the sport?

As to the change of attitude or rather the attitude that the team should adopt and learn from these Fil-foreigners (and yes, I shall continue to use that term).

In previous tournaments, the Philippines played not to lose, and not only that, they played not to lose by 10 goals or more.

When these guys showed up, they showed that not only do we have to play to win, but we CAN play to WIN!

And that, is what a Fil-foreigner is all about!