Embattled pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena is finally submitting himself to mediation.
Obiena expressed his willingness to do so through a letter he sent to Philippine Sports Commission chairman William Ramirez on Thursday evening.
“In so far as your directive to pursue a mediation among all parties concerned, me, my team, PATAFA (Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association), and POC (Philippine Olympic Committee), please note, that as a true sportsman, I am willing to participate in this mediation in order to find a peaceful solution,” said the 26-year-old Obiena in his letter, also posted on Facebook.
Obiena, who has refused mediation at least four times, is currently in Formia, Italy, where he is training for the Init Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe in Germany on Jan. 28.
“As you all know, since my funding has been cut in August 2021, I had very limited financial resources for my training and had been constrained to borrow from family and friends,” said Obiena.
The world no. 6 pole vaulting wonder added that expensive legal fees are now staring him in the face.
“I have nothing more to spare for the exorbitant mediation fees as may be prescribed by the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. (PDRCI). My lawyers and my legal spokesman have all been helping me pro bono and this is one of the reasons that prevented us from immediately agreeing to the mediation by the PDRCI without knowing the full costs it will entail,” explained Obiena.
Obiena said he is leaving it to the government sports agency in its efforts for the mediation process to work out.
“I trust that with your leadership, we will be able to find a solution that will convince PATAFA that I have not pocketed a single centavo from the training fees of my coach, nor have I done anything to be considered a bad example to all the upcoming national athletes,” said Obiena.
The conflict began when the PATAFA discovered in a casual conversation with pole vault great and World Athletics official Sergey Bubka that Obiena’s coach Vitaliy Petrov has not been getting his salary from 2018 to 2021.
Obiena later admitted paying his coach in full only last November, 2021 and saying “paying late is not a crime.”