Old wounds have been reopened between the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) amid squabbles brewing within the country’s several national sports associations (NSA).

PSC chairman Harry Angping denied in a statement that their agency was meddling with the conflicts among parties within the NSAs under the POC.

“The POC should refrain from using the PSC as a reason behind the troubles besetting their ranks and some of their National Sports Associations,” Angping said.

“POC should resolve these misunderstandings among themselves and not drag other parties into their predicament. The POC should start putting order among them and clean the mess within their own backyard,” he added.

Angping reacted to the POC’s claims that the PSC has harassed some NSAs by padlocking their offices.

Angping said that the PSC have closed the offices of the Wushu Federation Philippines (WFP) and National Archery Association of the Philippines (NAAP) to protect the properties.

“This was necessary as there is an ongoing internal dispute of leadership concerning the said association(s). As the office is situated within PSC property, we are constrained protect it. The maintenance of the said office and other NSA offices within the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex and Philsports-Pasig is our responsibility,” said Angping.

He also denied locking the office of the Philippines Badminton Association (PBA).

“How can the Badminton Hall be closed when this is also for public use six days a week?” Angping said.

Earlier, POC deputy secretary and Philippine Amateur Swimming Association chief Mark Joseph said the PSC has padlocked the offices of the WFP, NAAP and PBA.

“If you ask if this is normal compared to other countries, this is not normal,” said Joseph.

He added that the PBA offices were locked when the POC was overseeing an election to settle the conflict in the badminton group.

POC spokesman Jose Romasanta said the PSC should instead settle the matter peacefully rather than engaging a word war through the media if they really wanted to settle the conflict.

“They should refrain from settling the matter through the media. No accusations, no denials for the sake of Philippine sports,” he said.

Romasanta said engaging a word war through the media lacks formality and therefore could not lead to a peaceful resolution.

“This is not about the POC and PSC. This is about the athletes,” he said.

This is not the first time that the POC and PSC locked horns over conflicting policies.

The POC earlier demanded for Angping's removal from PSC after he reportedly overstepped its jurisdiction by creating a task force to investigate PASA. Angping's agency wanted to find out if the swimming association has indeed drew more than P29 million worth of financial assistance from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. without informing PSC. Dennis Gasgonia, abs-cbnNEWS.com