THINGS THAT I FIND DISTURBING WITH DAN PALAMI�S OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT COMPLAINT

By Eric Dimzon


Azkals team manager Dan Palami has issued an official statement on the sexual harassment complaint filed by AFC Commissioner Cristy Ramos. In his statement, Palami apologizes for the incident. But I still find certain things in Palami�s statement that are quite disturbing.

1. Dan Palami and PFF promise to do parallel investigations on the incident. Dan Palami and PFF said the same thing on the Amanda Coling incident. Nearly a year after, their findings have yet to be released to the public. To this day, both Dan Palami and PFF have yet to tell the public what really happened between Amanda Coling and the four Azkals players. Will the harassment incident suffer the same fate ?

2. Dan Palami does not seem to know how to differentiate boisterous bantering from sexual harassment. There is a huge difference between harmless noisy bantering and sexual harassment. There is no way that an individual of sound mind can mistake sexual harassment for plain rowdy behavior.

3. It puzzles me no end as to why it is Dan Palami who is apologizing to Cristy Ramos. Shouldn�t it be the two players who must apologize to the AFC Commissioner ?

4. The official statement makes it appear that the incident is a mere misunderstanding between the people involved. For me, the incident is about the core values that we Filipinos cherish. Respect for others, integrity in one�s action and the innate duty to do what is right at a particular instance are the Filipino values that seem to be missing among the whole members of the Azkals team. Instead of putting a stop to the insanity and great disrespect happening right in front of their eyes, the whole team chose to laugh instead.

It is high time that Dan Palami allows his players to be responsible for their actions. It is time for Palami to allow his players to suffer the consequences of their bad behavior. I hope that AFC Commisioner Cristy remains firm in her decision to teach these players a lesson on respect and what is truly expected of Filipino athletes.


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