Foton a work in progress amid PSL ouster

MANILA, Philippines -- After absorbing three straight setbacks, Foton bombed out of the ongoing Philippine Superliga Invitational Conference.

But for team manager Diane Santiago, it’s all part of the learning curve.

The older sister of Foton stars Jaja Santiago and Dindin Manabat said their first three losses to F2 Logistics, Generika-Ayala and Petron exposed what they need to work on in the All-Filipino Conference.

She said they are still a work in progress and they are trying to be patient with their development.

“It’s a lesson learned for us,” said Santiago, whose squad was relegated to the classification battle for fight fifth to 10th places.

“Although it’s sad not to make it to the semifinals for the first time in a long while, it’s still a blessing in disguise as we can work on these issues early on.”

Santiago said chemistry had been their primary problem in the mid-season conference.

After finishing with a bronze medal in the Grand Prix, the Tornadoes acquired former Ateneo de Manila star Bea de Leon and University of the East winger Shaya Adorador to provide scoring spunk.

Of course, Santiago and Manabat, both of National University, are already there as well as their college teammates in Jen Reyes, Ivy Perez and Carmina Aganon while setter Gyselle Sy is from Far Eastern University.
Maika Ortiz, for her part, came from University of Santo Tomas while Jeziela and Nieza Viray from San Beda College and CJ Rosario from Arellano University.

“If you look at our lineup, all of our players came from various schools,” Santiago said.

“So we already expected that it would take some time before we can finally jell into one fighting unit. We just have to be patient.”