Richard Gomez makes these allegations.
Leyte 4th District Representative Richard Gomez alleges that the Philippine Fencing Association (PFA) officials are abusing their power.
In a previous article, actor-politician Richard Gomez was caught on camera assaulting Philippine Fencing Association (PFA) President Rene Gacuma. Allegedly,
Gomez physically and verbally abused Gacuma
, and it happened at the fencing competition at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.
About the incident, Gacuma said in a letter addressed to the Philippine delegation chef de mission,
“When I extended my right hand to congratulate Mr. Gomez, he planted his right foot on my left foot, squeezed my right thumb very hard and said, ‘Who gave you the authority to replace that athlete!? Na-take up ninyo ito sa Board Meeting in my presence?! P***ng n mo, Rene g**o ka!’”
Gomez expressed disappointment after national athlete Alexa Larrazabal was replaced in the women’s individual epee event.
Recently, the matter was brought up again. Gomez lambasted Gacuma and national head coach Ronaldo Canlas over alleged abuse of power, bullying, and favoritism. This is linked to what happened in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games.
Larrazabal was replaced over allegations of repeated unauthorized absences from national training in the past three months, failure to submit required visa documents for international competitions, and lack of response to multiple reminders from the national coaching staff and teammates.
He alleged that Larrazabal, 19, suffered bullying and abuse of power from the officials. He added that what happened to the athlete was arrogance and oppression.
“Sana hindi na lang nila pinapunta yung atleta sa SEA Games. Sana hindi na lang nila sinayang yung paghahanda ng atleta para sa SEA Games at sana, hindi na lang nila pinagastos ang bayan natin. Habang nagte-training yung bata, habang bumibiyahe siya, yung bansa natin ang nagbabayad sa lahat ng expenses nila,”
he stated.
He refused to believe that the move was unanimously decided on by the PFA, as he argued that he should have known about it since he is a board member himself. Gomez then furthered that he and Larrazabal’s parents filed separate complaints against Gacuma and Canlas for “grave abuse of authority, oppression, favoritism, serious misconduct, and conflict of interest.”