MANILA, Philippines—It looks like the resignation of the women’s national futsal team isn’t an isolated case at the Philippine Football Federation.
Juan Cutillas, the PFF technical director, has also quit his post due to his “total loss of confidence†in the leadership of Jose Mari Martinez.
This developed as Martinez declared all the committee chairmanships in the PFF vacant, except for the futsal committee, whose chair Esmael Sedigh had recommended the sacking of women’s futsal head coach Emmanuel Batungbacal.
The ouster of Batungbacal prompted the resignation of the women’s futsal squad last week.
In a strongly worded letter, Cutillas said he has lost respect for Martinez whom he accused of bypassing him and other committee heads in making decisions in the PFF.
“We were ignored to the point that people outside the PFF were assigning favorites to the positions or removing people from their positions with only your approval,†said Cutillas, who coached the team to the 2008 Asean Championship Qualifiers for free.
Cutillas revealed that the PFF nearly came so close to not having a team for the Asean qualifiers after “coaches and players refused to go to the training camp because they claimed they could not trust their president†to give them allowances.
The last straw, Cutillas said, was Martinez’s alleged failure to act on the supposed meddling by RP women’s team manager Ernie Nierras in the affairs of the Under-19 and Under-16 teams.
“I have ... always been guided in the Ethics and Fair Play of the game,†Cutillas said. “Since these attributes do not seem to be important in your organization, I feel I am wasting my time and energy in an attempt to uplift football in the country.â€
