Ibuyan not at fault for Davao City missing Iloilo boxing tilt

Moralde mom, boxing brothers deny blaming city councilor for fiasco

The mother of Davao City’s two medal-winning amateur boxing brothers has denied blaming Councilor Edgar Ibuyan for her son’s failure to join a major boxing tournament in Iloilo City recently.

Engelbert and John Vincent Moralde were supposed to represent Davao City in the PLDT-Smart National Open Boxing Championships in Iloilo City last week. Earlier last month, Engelbert won the secondary boys paperweight gold medal, while John Vincent bagged the powderweight gold in the Palaro boxing competition in Puerto Princesa City.

A report in a local paper quoted the brothers and Erlinda Moralde as blaming Ibuyan, the Davao City president of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (Abap) for failing to provide financial assistance to the 20-member boxing team.

The report reportedly was based on an interview with the Moraldes during the Davao Sportswriters Association (DSA) Forum Thursday at the Tower Inn.

But Erlinda Moralde, strongly denied that she and her sons had faulted Ibuyan for the team’s failure to make it to the national tournament. Erlinda said she and the team knew that Abap was hard on funds, with the invitation coming late that made it difficult for Ibuyan to raise the P79,000 needed by the team. She denied the statements in the report as coming from her and her sons, before Ibuyan on Saturday.

Ibuyan said he tried to raise the needed funds but he was informed by the team about the invitation only on April 18 or twelve days before the team would sail out on May 1 for the May 5-11 Iloilo boxing tournament.

“My elder son Edwin even cried upon hearing they couldn’t go to Iloilo. I’ve learned there was only P10,000 available budget for 20 Abap Davao boxers who needed P79,000 for their trip, food and other expenses,” said Erlinda in the report that also reported her sons were downhearted for not making to tilt.

“They underwent three months of rigid training, bearing two meals a day because they have to keep their weights only to be told there was no budget for them to go to Iloilo,” Erlinda said, adding she was herself very upset by the incident. “This is the biggest Abap national tournament. This is the venue for Abap to scout potential boxers for the national team. It’s sad the boys missed their chance,” Erlinda re port added.

“We were promised but we waited for nothing. We really wanted to compete in the National Open),” the report also quoted 15-year-old Engelbert as saying. John Vincent, 13, was also reported to have said, that he and brother Engelbert lost an opportunity to bring more honors to Davao City, adding their preparations had gone to waste.