Taking the high road

The UAAP may be a victim of its own doing. There is a league rule that stipulates participation of every school in selected mandatory sports of which basketball is one. If a school fails to participate in a mandatory sport, for whatever reason, it is restrained from playing any other sport during a season.

In 2006, La Salle voluntarily submitted a school finding to the UAAP that two ineligible players were in the Archers basketball lineup. It wasn’t enough for the UAAP to reverse every win in games that the two played in Seasons 66-68 and forfeit La Salle’s championship in Season 67. The UAAP dealt a severe blow to La Salle’s uninvolved athletes in other sports by suspending the school’s participation for a year. The reason was since La Salle wouldn’t be allowed to play in men’s basketball as a penalty, the school’s entire sports program had to suffer as collateral damage. Imagine the anguish of graduating athletes who were barred from playing out their final season because of something they didn’t know anything about. This wasn’t just unfair but also cruel.

At that point, the UAAP should’ve revisited the rule on mandatory sports and made sure the injustice would never be done again. Surely, the UAAP could’ve amended the rule to qualify that if a team is unable to participate in a mandatory sport for a legitimate reason (subject to Board of Trustees approval), the school’s athletes in other sports would not be penalized. The rule on mandatory sports has commercial implications but surely, the UAAP will never compromise fairness to give in to a business arrangement. It’s not too late for the Board of Trustees to restudy this rule.

Now comes the UST “bubble” scandal. At first, it was mentioned that the UST men’s basketball team didn’t violate any UAAP rule because the training in Sorsogon was done in preparation for a non-UAAP tournament. Was this a lie? The argument was obviously made to skirt a UAAP penalty by trying to be technical. But text messages from the UST coaching staff later revealed the intention to train during the pandemic. “If we’re not able to practice or prepare well bcoz some players and parents are not reasonable and committed, I’m going to take a sabbatical leave this coming UAAP Season 83,” a message on a UST thread from a coach said.

Players were supposedly made to submit waiver forms to UST athletic director Fr. Jannel Abogado, absolving the school and team officials from responsibility in case anything untoward happens to them in training.  If this is true, not only did the team violate IATF guidelines but it also put the players’ safety at risk. This was totally against the values and principles that the UAAP stands for. No argument on the basis of a technicality will hold water when the core of the UAAP’s value system is attacked.

When UST was asked to meet with the signatories of the Joint Administrative Order (JAO) on sports set up by the IATF, it was represented by two lawyers who refused to submit their report on the Sorsogon bubble to the PSC and GAB. The meeting wasn’t a court proceeding but UST reportedly justified the presence of the lawyers by claiming it anticipated a legal battle. Perhaps, the issue wouldn’t have escalated if UST came in clean with Fr. Abogado explaining what happened truthfully.

Tomorrow, the JAO committee will submit its findings on UST’s alleged violation of IATF guidelines to the Department of Justice. The situation has become critical for UST. Five players have left the Growling Tigers team and coach Aldin Ayo has resigned. Fr. Abogado has also left his position.  Wouldn’t it be a noble gesture if UST voluntarily took a leave from men’s basketball for a year? With the exit of Ayo and the players, the Tigers will need at least a year to rebuild and besides, can you imagine the heckling if the team came out to play in the UAAP this coming season? But more than those considerations, UST should take the moral high ground and man up. The problem is if UST takes a sabbatical from men’s basketball, the UAAP will suspend its entire sports program during the leave of absence because of the rule on mandatory sports. The injustice to La Salle should never be repeated. If UST decides to suspend its participation in men’s basketball, the UAAP shouldn’t penalize uninvolved athletes in other sports. The Board of Trustees should see to that.