Actor-politician Richard Gomez may file a violation of Republic Act 9262 (The Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act of 2004) complaint against Philippine Fencing Association (PFA) president Rene Gacuma because of what he allegedly did to 19-year old fencer Alexa Larrazabal.
To recall, Gacuma accused Gomez of physical assault. Videos that circulated on social media showed that the Leyte representative, who is also the PFA Director and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) Vice President, hit the PFA President.
In his statement, Gomez said that he will apologize to Gacuma as he believes that what the latter did was wrong. For him, Gacuma took the opportunity from Larrazabal to bring home a medal from the Southeast Asian Games.
On Saturday, December 20, 2025, Gomez shared his thoughts on the controversy through his Facebook post.
“I will always stand and fight for our athletes. No one shall bully them especially sports officials, bata man o matanda. The 64-year old official Rene Gacuma bullied a 19 year old girl. Pwede pa yan sa VAWC? Pati allowance ni Alexa tinanggal nila,” he wrote on his social media post.
For Gomez, the PFA’s reason for Alexa’s failure to complete the requirements, including the attendance issue, is unfounded. He also believed that Alexa Larrazabal was wrongly disqualified from an epee match at the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Thailand.
“Her coach giving her lessons and training in UST (a former national player and national coach) when she is in school was not considered by the PFA as part of her training. Alexa was training in Ormoc at the Modern Pentathlon National Center because there are more fencers training in Epee in Ormoc,” the actor-politician stressed.
Gacuma previously explained that the decision to replace Larrazabal in a solo match was approved by other PFA members.
Larrazabal represented the Philippines in another match. Richard Gomez questioned this because the PFA’s decision was allegedly inconsistent. As of this writing, Rene Gacuma has not statement yet regarding what the Leyte representative said about the possibile VAWC complaint.
