I believe our Pinoy football fans are sad to hear the story about the alleged sexual harassment case being filed against two of the team members of the famed Philippines Azkals.
A disturbing situation for the country’s football team moreover it’s the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) 2012 Challenge Cup as everyone is so excited to see what our local team can achieve this upcoming competition.
According to the reports, Cristina Ramos (the current commissioner of AFC) received indecent behaviour from Lexton Moy and Angel Guirado while she was making initial checks on the team’s accreditation and kits.
Ramos claims that she received sexist and demeaning behaviour from the two which caused her to file a complaint to the AFC’s Disciplinary Committee.
Amelita “Ming” Ramos (wife of former president Fidel Ramos) and mother of the AFC Commissioner, sanctioned her daughter’s decision to proceed with the filing of a case against the purported offenders. She even asked for the immediate change of the football team’s name to keep clean on the recent controversy. To Mrs. Ramos, the name “Azkals” refers to “asong kalye” which allegedly signifies the behavior of their two players (Moy, Guirado).
Dan Palami (PH Azkals) already made an apology on the two member’s behalf on which Ramos has acknowledged yet she clearly stated that it does not write off Moy and Guirado out of the issue and will still press appropriate charges.
Here is the content of the letter addressed to the AFC Disciplinary Committee Chair Lim Kia Tong:
“As I called the players individually so that we could check their accreditation cards and kits, Philippine player LEXTON MOY (no. 25) stood by my right side and said in a loud voice ‘Must be a B cup,’ to which the players laughed loudly. As I was the only female in the room, he was apparently referring to my bra size.”
“Additionally when I checked Philippine player Angel Guirado (no. 12) he stood in front of me purposely just wearing his briefs and made no attempts to wear shorts or cover his underwear. Again, the players loudly laughed while I was checking this player.”
A copy of this letter was sent over to the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). Likewise, PFF President Mariano Araneta has promised to Ramos to conduct an independent investigation on this incident.
I can remember that once, boys (like me) have in one time displayed our naughty side when we are communed together especially in large groups. It is somewhat a natural instinct for the men to behave that way in front of the females but then they went over the top when they acted this way as to offend the female commissioner.
Either way, lessons should be learned for them not be repeated in the future. Otherwise, suffer the consequences of displaying our wild side in front of the criticizing public – what more if you are a public figure.
