Tabal seeks reinstatement for SEAG stint

MANILA, Philippines -  Marathoner Mary Joy Tabal has written the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) seeking reinstatement to the national team that will see action in the 29th SEA Games in August.

Tabal, a veteran of the 2016 Rio Olympics but in danger of missing the bus to this year’s SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, told The STAR yeaterday she had e-mailed her request to PATAFA chief Philip Ella Juico.

“I’m requesting for reinstatement for my SEA Games inclusion – hopefully. I will take it that way and will wait for their response,” said the 27-year-old Cebuana, who recently topped the women’s class in the Ottawa Half-Marathon in Canada.

Juico said Tabal seeking reinstatement to the national team is easier said than done.

The PATAFA has forwarded to the SEA Games task force the names of 30 athletes that will represent the country in the SEA Games.

Not included in the list is Tabal, the first female marathoner from the Philippines to vie in the Summer Olympics.

“Those who were in the list are all members of the national team. If you are not a member of the national team, you cannot be in the list,” he said.

Tabal has had differences with PATAFA officials even before the Rio Olympics, and unless she is reinstated to the national team she cannot vie in the SEA Games.

She was dropped from the national team after the Rio Olympics but has been training and competing overseas on her own.

Tabal has repeatedly said she wants to compete in Kuala Lumpur. But Juico said they’ve heard nothing from Tabal regarding the SEA Games.

Juico has set conditions for Tabal for her reinstatement, including Tabal saying publicly that it was her decision to drop out of the national team and admit her failure to work on her reinstatement despite efforts made by the PATAFA since October last year.

“If she truthfully clarifies her statements... and by following our processes, procedures, policies and core values. She created her own problems by opting out (of the team) and taking our governance rules for granted,” Juico said.

From her victory in Canada, Tabal told The STAR she would try to settle the issue with PATAFA.

“I will try to do it,” she said.

Juico said PATAFA “will cross the bridge when we get there,” but did not say with finality last Tuesday whether or not Tabal still has a chance of making it to the SEA Games, where she has a crack at a medal.

“Everything will have to pass through the PATAFA board. This is not a one-man association. We have 17 members,” he added.

Juico said Tabal will have to go through the process.

“We are a deliberative and consultative body and it (Tabal’s reinstatement) will have to be based on those two principles (being a national athlete),” said Juico, referring to “technical excellence and adherence to core life” and “about preserving the values of Olympism.”

But Juico and members of the PATAFA coaching staff seemed to have closed the doors on Tabal for the SEA Games.

“Ayaw na namin sa kanya (We don’t want her anymore),” said Juico, claiming that Tabal has repeatedly disobeyed PATAFA rules and regulations.

“There’s no special treatment here at PATAFA. One can’t eat steak here while the others are eating hamburgers,” said Juico.

The former chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission was referring to Tabal, who, according to Juico, chooses to do things her way, deciding where to train and who trains her.

“There are no VIPs here at PATAFA,” said Juico.