CEBU CITY – A boxing judge was arrested after he assaulted an official of the Games and Amusement Board (GAB)-Cebu Field Office on Saturday night, April 2, in Lapu-Lapu City.
JIMMY Donton, officer-in-charge of the Games and Amusement Board (GAB)-Cebu Field Office, is bloodied when he reported to a police station in Barangay Gun-ob, Lapu-Lapu City that he was punched by a boxing judge on Saturday night, April 2. (Contributed photo)


Boxing judge Edgardo Ompong Olalo, 52, is facing physical injury charges after punching Jimmy Donton, 47, after a boxing event at the Hoops Dome in Barangay Gun-ob. As officer-in-charge of GAB-Cebu, Donton was in the event to oversee the proceedings. Olalo was one of the ring officials who were assigned to officiate the boxing card on that day. Police Chief Master Sgt. Jack Lord Pogoy, investigator-on-case, said the scuffle took place at the lobby of the gymnasium after the boxing event had ended. Olalo was quoted in newspaper reports that he felt slighted with Donton's actuations when he claimed his honorarium as one of the judges during the boxing event. According to Olalo, Donton told him, “Sige kunin mo na ‘yan para may pang bayad ka sa abogado (Go get it so that you’ll have the money to pay for a lawyer).” Donton told police that Olalo repeatedly punched him when they crossed paths at the lobby on his way home. Olalo was immediately arrested when a bloodied Donton sought help from two police officers who were deployed in the area to secure the event. Police said Olalo and Donton bore personal grudges against each other. Olalo and another boxing official filed a case against Donton last year for refusing to renew their license as boxing judges. Olalo also alleged that there was a time when Donton challenged him to a fistfight inside the GAB-Cebu office. The Association of Philippine Professional Boxing Ring Officials (APPBRO)-Visayas chapter condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the attack on Donton. “This dastardly act is conduct unbecoming of a professional boxing judge and only shows his immaturity, cowardice and undeserving of his license as a judge,” Edward Ligas, president of APPBRO-Visayas, said in a statement. The group also asked the GAB-Central Office “to take prompt and drastic action on this matter.” “This act must not be condoned because assaulting a GAB official on duty (or after discharging his duty) is an attack to GAB itself as an institution. If Olalo can attack a GAB official, he can, or will attack any other ring official that may not agree with him, putting their lives in danger,” Ligas said.