PHILIPPINE Racing Commission chief Florencio Fianza yesterday proposed a possible solution to the three-day racing holiday that has already cost the government lots of money in lost taxes–the owners to declare their horses for the races.

For the third straight day, horse owners making up three major groups continued their boycott that started over the weekend and pressed for the resignation of Fianza and the Philracom board members.

Fianza, however, refused to budge, saying he has done nothing wrong to hurt the industry and urged the owners, whom he said are waging a personal war against him, to end the impasse.

"This has boiled down to them waging a personal war on me and it is a pity this (boycott) had to happen." Fianza told a group of scribes yesterday. "They don’t want to be led by someone who they cannot control. That’s the bottom line.

"In fact, if they really don’t want their three-year-old horses to be included in the progressed handicapping system, then all they need to do is not run those horses and propose a resolution."

There was no end in sight to the racing holiday, however, with Eric Tagle, vice president of the Metropolitan Association of Race Horse Owners, reiterating the horse owners will not lift the boycott if Fianza and the members of the Philracom stay with the racing body.

"The only solution to this is Mr. Fianza and the Philracom board should tender their immediate resignation. We are not talking here of who will be in control. We are talking here of the interests of all industry players," said Tagle, adding the three groups of horse owners will not break ranks in their call for a revamp of the racing body.

Fianza said owners belonging to the Marho, Philippine Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Organization and Klub Don Juan de Manila who are leading the boycott have not really declared their real agenda.

"All they want is my head, because they refuse to state their real agenda," Fianza explained. "I have not polarized myself from them. They have polarized themselves from the Philracom."

Fianza, also President Arroyo’s Special Envoy on Transnational Crime, said he wrote letters addressed to the three groups last year and requested for a dialogue on how to improve, among other things, the handicapping system.

"But they never came to the office and instead sent their secretaries," the 60-year-old former police general said. "They don’t want the (new) rule because it doesn’t favor their interests. And that is the one hurting the industry, not me."

The progressed handicapping scheme, which does not allow the covered age brackets to go down in group, took effect last Jan. 3, raising a howl of protest from the owners’ groups which wanted the system to cover only their two-year-old horses.

"How can that be, when their three-year-old horses were their two-year-old horses last year, meaning the same horses will be covered by the same rules?" Fianza said. "And we are the only country left in the world that allows such (going down) rule."

Fianza reiterated he has a moral obligation while he continues to hold office–to protect the interest of the betting public.

"I serve at the pleasure of the President," said Fianza, adding several members of the boycotting group have approached him to say they will start declaring their horses by Thursday. "If protecting the interest of the people is such a bad thing to do, then by all means I am at fault."

According to rough estimates, at least P4 million in taxes are being lost each day because of the boycott.

"That’s a small price to pay if we want to uphold the integrity of the sport," Fianza said.