PhilCycling cancels Tour due to corruption issue

The Philippine Cycling Federation (PhilCycling) canceled Padyak Pinoy, the annual summer cycling tournament, because its leaders have been accused of corruption. This is the first time that the bike fest, also known as The Tour, has been canceled since its revivial in 2002, according to PhilCycling president Bert Lina in a statement issued on Tuesday. The national cycling team has accused PhilCycling of anomalously acquiring and distributing equipment in the 2007 Thailand Southeast Asian Games. "Until all these have been settled and cleared would I be considering bringing the Padyak Pinoy back on the road," Lina said. "For the meantime, there will be no Tour or Padyak Pinoy." About a dozen cyclists, most of them members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), sought the ouster of their head coach Jomel Lorenzo. But PhilCycling retained Lorenzo because of his good performance at the last SEA Games. From the one gold medal won in 2003, Lorenzo helped clinch two golds in Manila in 2005 and doubled these to four golds in the 2007 Thailand edition, making the sport the second most productive after swimming. PhilCycling also pointed out no case has not yet been resolved. The protesting cyclists also filed a complaint with the Ombudsman against some officials of PhilCycling, including Lina, and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC). These protesting cyclists are Baby Marites Bitbit (Army), Alfie Catalan (Army), Eusebio Quinones (Navy), Carlo Jasul (Army), Nilo Estayo (Air Force), Paulo Manapul (Army), Emelito Atilano (Air Force), Arnold Marcelo (Army), Alvin Benosa (Army), Warren Davadilla (Air Force), Frederick Feliciano, March Mcquin Aleonar, and Edwin Niyo (Army). This summer's Padyak Pinoy was to have been composed of eight stages that would take place from May 1 to 8 and culminate with the Baguio-Baguio stage. Gary Cayton, president of the Dynamic Outcourse Solutions Inc. or Dos-1 under the Lina Group of Companies that has organized the Tour since 2005, also planned the inclusion of foreign teams to this summer's race and actually received confirmation from seven countries. The foreign teams will be invited again to next year's summer race should Padyak Pinoy be revived. - GMANews.TV