THE Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy lashed back at Southwestern University athletic director Ryan Aznar who accused him of lying and called the latter a “loose cannon.”
Aznar accused Tiukinhoy of not fulfilling Cesafi’s obligations to Cleford Maguate after he promised to shoulder the medical expenses of any player injured in the Partners Cup tournament.
Maguate was injured in the Partners Cup and that incident prompted SWU to skip this year’s event, which is set to open next weekend.
Aznar claimed Tiukinhoy broke his promise after he refused to pay for the entire amount that was needed for Maguate’s injury and even asked Aznar to divide the cost with SWU.
Tiukinhoy denied Aznar’s accusation in a letter to the Cesafi board of directors.
“I did not lie. As far as I am concerned, I have fully paid his request for payment since he did not question anything from the time he received the check payment in May 12, 2009 until his press conference last Jan. 15, 2010,” said Tiukinhoy.
“The animosity of Ryan to Cesafi and particularly to me stems from SWU not getting elected to the presidency for the Cesafi in the 2009 to 2010 season. He was already telling the other athletic directors of his plans in running the Cesafi and when they were not elected, he became uncooperative,” Tiukinhoy said.
Negative attitude
“He became a loose cannon, criticizing anything and no longer accepting the true facts of any issue and he would twist the facts to suit his negative attitude to Cesafi,” said Tiukinhoy in the letter.
Aznar said his school never planned on leading Cesafi.
“Kung nangambisyon pa ang SWU nga mag Cesafi presidente, ni-object na unta mi pag election pa lang. We never had any problem with Cesafi,” said Aznar.
SWU was supposed to take over the post last year per agreement made in 2007, but University of Southern Philippines Foundation president Rolly Villa got a fresh two-year mandate.
According to a report last year, it was even the SWU president who nominated Villa to another term.
Decision
However, Aznar admitted that had SWU taken the helm, he would have dropped Tiukinhoy.
“I did tell my fellow athletic directors that if we get elected we will drop him as the commissioner because of irrational decisions he made. My beef with him did not start during the election but when he amended a rule that the athletic directors made in the summer. He went directly to the board, behind our backs and we only learned about it at the start of the school year,” said Aznar.
The rule change Aznar referred to is the one that allowed players who have finished a four-year course to enroll in another course in another school.
“He is a commissioner. When he pushed for that rule change, he should have been diligent enough to research if the rule will benefit everyone or just one school. Unsaon nato ug prosper as a league if ingun ana ang attitude?” said Aznar.