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A pair of former sports officials ripped the organizers of the boxing competition of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games, where the host country won 14 out of the 17 gold medals at stake.

Former Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William “Butch” Ramirez and former Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (ABAP) president Manny Lopez expressed their disgust over the outcome of the boxing competition as only one out of the 13 Filipino boxers won a gold medal in the biennial meet that came to a close on Friday at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

Ramirez said the event had turn into a “farce” as organizers blatantly disregarded the values of fair play and sportsmanship just to deliver gold medals for the host country.

Ramirez is speaking based on his rich experience as PSC chief.

He served as PSC chief under the administrations of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from 2005 to 2009 and Rodrigo Duterte from 2016 to 2022. In fact, he was the PSC chief when the Philippines made its successful hostings of the SEA Games in 2005 and 2019 in which the Filipinos won the overall title.

“Sports loses its meaning and values when fair play is absent. The latest boxing competition was a farce. While our main purpose is exposure for our athletes, this exposure destroys the very essence of quality exposure” the 75-year-old Ramirez said in a message to DAILY TRIBUNE on Saturday morning.

“In normal martial arts competition, judgement call is vital — and that is where corruption among judges takes place. In boxing competitions all over the world, these pay-off to the judges becomes a normal phenomena. I witnessed these in my journey to kind of boxing competitions or other martial arts (events) like judo, wushu, jiu-jitsu and others.”

Thai boxers greatly dominated, winning 14 of the 17 gold medals at stake despite reports of questionable officiating and unfair judging. The remaining three gold medals were equally divided among the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Among the 13 Filipino boxers, only Eumir Marcial won a gold medal when he ruled te men’s 80-kilogram event in the penultimate day last Friday at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

Other Filipino boxers settled for silver medals like Jay Bryan Baricuatro in the men’s 48kg event, Flint Jara in the men’s 54kg event, and Olympian Aira Villegas in the women’s 50kg event. Meanwhile, salvaging bronze medals were Mark Ashley Fajardo in the men’s 69kg event, Weljon Mindoro in the men’s 75kg event, Ofelia Magno in the women’s 48kg event, Riza Pasuit in the women’s 60kg event, Olympic medalist Nesthy Petecio in the women’s 63kg event, and Hergie Bacyadan in the women’s 70kg event.

Petecio even skipped the medal ceremony as her way of protesting the outcome of her match.

ABAP chairman Ricky Vargas stressed that winning a close bout over the Thais in their home turf was “close to impossible.”

The unfair judging in boxing competition is nothing new in Thailand. In fact, the last time the Thais hosted in the 24th edition of the Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Filipino boxers relinquished their chances of winning gold medals as they “resigned” from their bouts against Thai foes in protest to what former ABAP president Manny Lopez branded as “robbery in broad daylight.”

Godfrey Castro and Junel Cantancio both raised their hands as soon as the referee egged them on to fight while Orlando Tacuyan Jr. quit after the second round with the Thai comfortably ahead. Only Annie Albania emerged with a gold medal after she knocked out her Thai foe in the first round.

In that edition of the Games, the Thais won 16 of the 17 gold medals while the Filipinos settled for 12 silver medals after losing to Thai foes on points.

Lopez, the president of ABAP at that time, said cheating is nothing new in Thailand.

“We were no longer surprised because Thailand is known to be a bastion of bad officiating and biased judging,” said Lopez, the son of former Manila mayor Mel Lopez who stepped down from the boxing federation to give way for Vargas in 2008 before becoming a Manila lawmaker.

“They’re doing that not just in the SEA Games but in all boxing events that they host. They’re always one-sided, that’s why we have a lot of issues with the Thais.”