This letter is from a member of the Philippine Dragon Boat Team asking to spread the message thru blogs and social media sites such as twitter and facebook. This is just a small favor for the FILIPINO DRAGON BOAT WORLD CHAMPIONS.
But seriously, our Government should take a look at the current situation of the sport here in the Philippines today.
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Dear President Benigno ‘Nonoy’ Aquino,
I would like to seek help from your office to give immediate attention and guidance to the current situation of the dragon boat sport in this country.
The Filipino dragon boat paddlers under the supervision of the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation or PDBF brought home numerous international awards in this sport, defending WORLD CHAMPIONS and WORLD RECORD HOLDER to name a few, yet the Philippine Sports Commission do not recognize the federation, stripped down all its rights as member of NSA without any clear or justifiable reasons, and created a separate dragon boat national team under the Philippine Canoe Kayak Federation or PCKF.
Current statistics show that PCKF has around 40-50 members only compared to PDBFs more than a thousand members. PDBF is the ONLY RECOGNIZED dragon boat association in the Philippines by the International Dragon Boat Federation or IDBF. From the latest letter of IDBF President to PDBF, only paddlers recognized by or members of PDBF will be allowed to race in local, regional, continental, and world dragon boat competitions for as long as it is governed or supervised by IDBF.
By stripping down the rights of PDBF from the NSA, PCKF will take over all of the existing rights and properties of PDBF including government funding to the WORLD CHAMPIONS, the Philippine Dragon Boat National Team.
And at the end of this month, PCKF will get ALL the dragon boats parked at Manila Bay and will make PDBF dragon boat paddlers unable to train for the upcoming competitions this September in Florida-USA for the World Championships and SAVA Sprints Singapore wherein FILIPINOS ARE THE DEFENDING CHAMPIONS.
As a paddler, a public relations practitioner, and as a Filipino, I am asking for your utmost consideration to look at the current situation of the sport where we excel, and help save Philippine dragon boat from doom.
I hope that you can lend the federation your liberal ear to discuss this important matter with you and help our athletes defend their WORLD TITLE.
Respectfully yours,
Kurt Urbanozo
Member, Philippine Dragon Boat Federation
Rodolfo Z. Alvarez
Naku naman, what is going on again? Here is a sport wherein our athletes have excelled, and in both the men & women categories at that, and this kind of b.s. is happening? If Mr. Urbanozo’s complaint is true, and I don’t think that he would risk making up stories in this very public forum, then I think that the Office of the President should seriously look into this matter asap. Otherwise, the House of Representatives or the Senate should conduct an inquiry into why the people or organizations (PSC, POC, NSA,& God knows what or who else) who are supposed to look after the welfare & development of national athletes engaged in the various disciplines, seem to have an uncanny ability for endless squabbling.
Rodolfo Z. Alvarez
Bacolod City, Negros Occidental