Lawyer Antonio Cablitas, president of the Philippine Tennis Association (Philta), said four officials of the United Tennis Philippines (UTP) were the ones to blame for the suspension of Philta by the inter-national governing body on tennis.
Last November, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) slapped Philta with a two-year suspension, citing “long-standing governance failings” and “representation issues.”
With Philta suspended, the Philippine national team and its players cannot compete in ITF-sanctioned tournaments, among these, the Davis Cup.
Cablitas said UTP officials Jean Henri Lhuillier, Julito Villanueva, Gerardo Maronilla and the late Randy Villanueva filed a complaint with the ITF Independent Tribunal last February.
Lhuillier is chairman of Philta and president of UTP; Villanueva, Philta’s former president; Maronilla, Philta’s former trustee; and the late Randy Villanueva, Philta’s former vice president.
Cablitas said he has documents proving that they were responsible for Philta’s suspension and will make these public when he graces the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on December 15.
“We (Philta) have no governance problem. Those four were the problem. They want to come in as the new national sporting association. I will divulge the documents proving that they were responsible for this conspiracy,” Cablitas told The Manila Times.
Cablitas alleged that the “lack of representation from stakeholders” claim stemmed from the lack of cooperation of the four officials.
After winning the Philta presidency in 2017, Cablitas said he tried to fix the issue but allegedly, the four were always absent in meetings.
“We’re not represented yet. I was trying to reach them so we can resolve this, but they were not re-porting, appearing — nothing happened. Now they made that lack of representation as an issue, but they were the culprits of it,” said Cablitas.
Cablitas said the ITF set a deadline in March next year for Philta to resolve its representation issue, but he said he can do it by the end of January.
“I told them I can finish that by January, but the ITF said include UTP in the process. Why would I in-clude them? They are the culprits behind this.”
Cablitas also denied that his election is not valid because there wasn’t any Philippine Olympic Commit-tee (POC) observer during the 2017 Philta election. The 72-year-old official said there’s no need for a POC observer as Philta’s constitution and bylaws don’t require one for its elections.
“I’m an elected president. They said the election wasn’t valid since there’s no POC observer. I told them, ‘Show me the bylaws of the constitution.’ I dared them to put up the legal challenges before any court, but there’s none, and they went straight to the ITF.”
Cablitas assured the Philippine tennis community that he will resolve the issue.
“I can solve it. I pity the players.”