Gomez accuses PFA of bullying, abuse; Gacuma set to file assault charges
Trouble is expected to brew in the fencing community after Leyte Rep. Richard Gomez on Tuesday unloaded a scathing privilege speech accusing the sport’s national federation of “bullying … and abuse of power.”
The speech is expected to open a can of worms and expose problems within the fencing federation, and sources told the Inquirer on Tuesday that those problems reach as far back as when Gomez was president of the Philippine Fencing Association.
“There were multiple cases of favoritism, bullying, abuse of fencers by a coach and conflicts of interest where officials allegedly used their authority to advance their private or business interests and exert undue control over clubs, competitions and athletes’ preparation,” Gomez said in his privilege speech at the House of Representatives.
Gomez’s speech comes after a controversy where the lawmaker-sportsman was caught on video assaulting PFA president Rene Gacuma. Gacuma is set to file a complaint against Gomez.
“My legal counsel team will be filing a complaint versus [Gomez] regarding the physical attack against me,” Gacuma said in a message to the Inquirer, saying he can elaborate only once “the wheels of justice start moving.”
“I acknowledge the concerns regarding how I responded to Mr. Gacuma’s interaction with me, but let me take this opportunity to explain my side and expose the truth,” Gomez said.
Last-minute replacement
“If there is a mistake, it should not be overlooked. If there is abuse, it should not be concealed,” Gomez said in a mix of English and Filipino. “What the Philippine Fencing Association, or the PFA, under the leadership of its president, Mr. Rene Gacuma, and its national head coach, Mr. Ronaldo Amat Canlas, did to Ms. Alexa Larrazabal on December 15, 2025, was not the first case of bullying an athlete and abuse of power inflicted on Filipino fencers.”
Gomez said the assault was precipitated by the last-minute replacement of Larrazabal during the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand. Gomez confronted Gacuma about the switch and struck the official.
Gomez said the replacement violated several rules and protocols—in the PFA and in the Philippine Olympic Committee.
“In my over 30 years experience in playing and supporting the sport of fencing in the Philippines, this had never been done,” Gomez said.
Sources, however, said the abuses, bullying and unilateral decision-making, date back to Gomez’s time as PFA president.
In fact, a lot of the names Gomez mentioned as examples of the PFA engaged in “conflicts of interest” were officials under his presidency from 2016 to 2023.
Gomez called for “a law that establishes clear regulatory standards for national sports associations and effective government oversight to ensure the protection of our athletes and the integrity of Philippine sports.”
There is a pending law in House Bill No. 4175, which athletes EJ Obiena, Hidilyn Diaz and Maxine Esteban helped author, called the National Athletes Protection Act. Esteban is the fencer who transferred to Ivory Coast after what she decried as her “unfair and unceremonious” removal from the national team.
It can be recalled that Esteban tore her ACL while representing the Philippines in the World Championship in Egypt in 2022. She wrote the PFA to be excused from its tournaments to recuperate, which the federation granted. After working to return earlier than usual, Esteban, the highest-ranked Filipino fencer at that time, was stunned after being told she was removed from the national team due to her absences.
The Inquirer has reached out to Esteban and Larrazabal for comment, but they have yet to reply at press time.
