Protect our athletes

The new year started on a sour note for Team Philippines as one of its prized athletes — two-time Olympian Eumir Marcial — figured in an ugly marital dispute with his wife, Princess.

Eumir and Princess were considered Philippine boxing’s power couple.

They’d been together since 2012 when Marcial was just a 17-year-old boxer who was dreaming of becoming the next Manny Pacquiao. Three years later, Marcial won his breakthrough title in the Southeast Asian Games in Singapore to launch a very successful amateur career that included appearances in the Tokyo and Paris Olympics and an Olympic bronze medal around his neck.

Princess was a boxing nut as well.

She is a former member of the national team while her father, Reynaldo Galarpe, was considered one of the elite trainers in Cagayan de Oro City. At one point, the Los Angeles-based Galarpe served as one of Marcial’s cornermen when he faced Steven Pichardo in a professional fight in 2022.

Like Eumir, Princess’ uncle in Roberto Jalnaiz also saw action in two Olympic Games — Seoul in 1998 and Barcelona in 1992. He is now based in the United States.

Shortly after Marcial took home the bronze medal from the Tokyo Olympics, he married Princess in a dreamy beach wedding in Batangas.

The guest list was star-studded with no less than Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz and Olympic boxers Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam gracing the affair. Their godfathers were Pacquiao and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, with a bevy of lawmakers and ranking military officers as sponsors.

Truly, it was a match made in boxing heaven.

But things turned ugly when Princess dropped a bombshell of an allegation a few days after the start of the new year.

She pulled off a shocker when she slapped her husband with charges of concubinage and violation of the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act for cheating on her. In fact, prior to the formal filing of the case, Eumir spent several nights in jail after Princess claimed that she caught him with another woman.

The media circus greatly damaged Marcial’s reputation, completely turning him from one of the most admired sports icons into an epitome of cheating, manipulation and infidelity.

His plight is quite similar to Carlos Yulo’s shortly after he won the gold medal in the Paris Olympics.

Yulo’s mother, Angelica, revealed that their relationship had gone sour after Yulo opted to stay with his girlfriend, Australia-based content creator Chloe San Jose.

The Yulo family feud that happened at the height of his popularity also sparked an avalanche of social media reactions, creating the heartbreaking impression that the Olympic hero was an ungrateful son.

What’s wrong with our national athletes? They’re supposed to be heroes and role models, but they have shown signs of vulnerability that proves that they’re just human, who are also capable of hurting the people they love.

With this, the POC and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) have to step up. They have to strengthen their respective programs for the national athletes to make sure that they are free from distractions not just on the court, but off the court as well.

Sure, elite athletes have their respective sports psychologists. In fact, the PSC even has a Medical and Scientific Athlete Services to take care of the needs and well-being of the national athletes. Still, they have to further step up. They have to dig deep into the lives of these athletes to make sure they will be in the proper state of mind by the time they step on the court to face the best in the world.

Our athletes are our national treasures. They deliver pride and joy that unite this fractured country and contribute to nation-building. With every punch that Marcial unloads or every twist and turn that Yulo makes, the entire nation erupts in celebration and beams with a sense of pride and belongingness.

We should take good care of our national treasures before another Yulo or another Marcial hits the headlines for the wrong reasons.