Prized fencer Maxine Esteban bravely opened a can of worms when she revealed why she decided to represent Ivory Coast in the international arena.
She blamed two things: Politics and apathy.
There is no doubt that politics and apathy are prevalent in Philippine sports.
Chess wizard Wesley So shifted his allegiance to the United States after the Philippine Olympic Committee refused to recognize his achievement at the World University Games, while golfer Yuka Saso and badminton player Paula Lynn Obanana are now competing for Japan and the US, respectively, for better opportunities.
Of course, there is EJ Obiena, who reportedly drew attractive offers from multiple countries after he was treated unfairly by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association.
Esteban's case is no different.
When she tore her anterior cruciate ligament during the World Fencing Championships in Cairo last July, she received no help from the federation. She focused on her recovery and wrote to the Philippine Fencing Association to excuse her from the national team while undergoing rehabilitation.
The federation agreed.
But to her surprise, she was suddenly removed from the national team. She felt betrayed. There, she was doing everything to recover within the six-month window, but instead of receiving sympathy, the federation responded by sacking her.
The PFA even snubbed Esteban's request for an explanation as to why she was dropped despite her status as the highest-ranked Filipino fencer and an eight-time national champion in women's foil.
Esteban said it was painful and disrespectful. And if it happened to someone of her status and caliber, it would definitely happen again to lesser-known Filipino athletes.
With her heart bleeding, Esteban turned her attention to helping the fencing community of Ivory Coast — a former French colony in West Africa that has been struggling to make its mark in the Olympics since it started to join in 1964.
The International Fencing Association and the International Olympic Committee eventually waived Esteban's mandatory three-year waiting period, formally clearing the way for her to represent Ivory Coast.
From being No. 62, she now ranks No. 39 in the world following a series of strong finishes while donning the colors of Ivory Coast. She definitely has a good chance of making it to the Olympics if she continues her impressive performance in the next three editions of the World Cup and two stagings of the Grand Prix before the qualifying window shuts down in July next year.
True enough, Esteban is in a much better place now. She has been vindicated after the injustice done to her by her own federation and is now at peace while representing the country where she feels loved and wanted. She is shining bright like a diamond in the vast African desert.
She may or may not make it to the Olympics, but she already has sent a strong message and bravely demonstrated the grave repercussions of the "bata-bata" (roughly patronage) system, the "palakasan" (favoritism), in Philippine sports as well as the power-tripping attitude of some local sports officials.
For her, athletes should have rights — and she wants those rights protected.
Sports officials should learn a thing or two from this heartbreaking episode. They should realize that Filipino athletes are leaving — and will continue to leave — if they continue to be taken for granted in favor of some sacred cows within the federation.
It's time for the POC and the Philippine Sports Commission to wake up from their slumber and sit down with the national federations to plot ways to take good care of their athletes and boost their morale so they will overflow with pride when they represent the country abroad.
It's time for the POC and PSC to protect Filipino athletes and give them the treatment fit for modern-day heroes.
In the eyes of the Ivorians, Esteban is just a fencer.
But in the eyes of Filipinos, she is a patriot, a hero willing to make the painful decision to leave her country to change the system for the sake of Philippine sports and national athletes who are gagged, oppressed, and bleeding inside.