UAAP:
Controversy never ends
by rick olivares
How controversial is the UAAP’s
Two-Year Residency Rule? For one, the issues surrounding it refuse to die.
To recap, the Two-Year Rule was imposed
after FEU-FERN’s star player and Ateneo recruited Juniors Most Valuable Player
Jerie Pingoy. The rule superseded the previous but similarly inane One-Year
Residency Rule (or Soc Rivera Rule) on student-athlete who move from a UAAP
high school to another UAAP college.
Senator Pia Cayetano called for a
hearing in the senate about the rule. She made good on her promise to take
legal action against the rule by helping the family of Mikee Bartolome, a
swimmer from UST high school who enrolled in UP for college and was affected by
the rule.
In my research about athletes affected
by the rule, I met the family of Mikee Bartolome and thought about inviting them
make an appearance at the hearing as sort of like a bombshell.
The Bartolome’s tried to go through
proper channels in securing a release but when it was denied, they had no
choice but to take the legal route.
A Quezon City Regional Trial Court
(Branch 226) slapped a Temporary Restraining Order on the UAAP’s Two-Year
Residency rule paving the way for Bartolome’s participation in UP’s campaign
for a five-peat in swimming.
When the league’s swimming competition
began last Thursday, September 19, at the Trace College in Laguna, the UAAP
sent an email to the tournament commissioner to stop her from competing. They
cited the One-Year Residency Rule that they said was still in effect if the
Two-Year Residency Rule did not apply.
The commissioner of the swimming
tournament consulted a lawyer; fearing being cited for contempt by the court,
he allowed Bartolome to compete. However, swimmers from La Salle and UST did
not participate.
Bartolome’s team 4x50 medley relay for
women smashed the old record of 2 minutes and 7.58 of a second for the new
record of 2 minutes and 6.31. But the UP contingent was unable to fully
celebrate because of the non-participation of some swimmers.
Two
statements
The “boycott” drew the ire of Sen.
Cayetano who said in a statement:
"I condemn the boycott instigated by certain
school officials at the UAAP swimming competitions in support of the UAAP
Board's brazen refusal to abide by the court rulings affirming Mikee
Bartolome's right to swim in the school of her choice.
"There's nothing to gain from the boycott,
except to send the message that the UAAP is too high and too proud to take
orders from anyone, including from our honorable courts, even if they trample
on the rights of student-athletes.
"By preventing the student-athletes from openly
competing and showcasing their talents, the UAAP leadership is proving that
promoting the development of the student-athletes is not their priority.
Instead they would prefer to create a culture of protectionism in support
of their narrow institutional interests.
"Sabotaging the swimming competitions will not
resolve this issue. Now, not only Mikee but the rest of the student swimmers as
well are suffering from the UAAP leadership's intransigence.
"This is a sad sad day in Philippine
sports."
The UAAP responded with a statement of
their own that released to media hours after Cayetano’s comments.
“THE
UAAP Board remains respectful of a court order against the imposition of the
“two-year residency rule” for fresh high school graduates who transfer from one
member school to another.
“The
board is doing so in the case of University of the Philippines (UP) freshman
Anna Dominique “Mikee” Bartolome, a swimmer from UST high school, whose father
brought his daughter’s case to court and earned a temporary restraining order
and eventually an order preventing the UAAP from imposing the two-year
residency rule.
“As
a result of the court order, the UAAP has no recourse but to heed and revert to
the previous rule which has been imposed for decades. The old rule requires a
freshman student-athlete who transfers from one UAAP school to another to
complete one year of residency.
“The
court order was specific on the “two-year” rule which was imposed only this
Season 76, and not on the previously accepted “one-year” rule. It would be
worse for the UAAP if it also lifts the long accepted one-year rule.
“In
Bartolome’s case, she, like all other freshman transferees before her, must
undergo the one-year residency before she could swim for UP. Bartolome’s elder
sister served a one-year residency before she could eventually compete for the
Fighting Maroons.
“On
the “boycott” of swimmers in events Bartolome competed or will compete in, the
UAAP Board did not order such, nor did it instigate the move. The board in
general deemed it as the schools’ decision, perhaps as a sign of personal
indignation or protest.
“Adamson
University, the season host, in particular, would not instigate any protest.
The Soaring Falcons only have one female entry in the swimming competitions.
“The
UAAP Board’s decision to heed the court order was unanimously agreed upon by
its members during an emergency meeting on Thursday (September 19).”
First of all the line “the previous rule which has been imposed
for decades” isn’t true. That has been in effect for less than a decade as
it was passed by the UAAP on May 22, 2007.
And second, if the old One-Year Rule
was in effect, why did Bartolome clear the player eligibility meeting before
the tournament? Unless this was a tactic to prevent the courts from placing a
TRO on that rule as well.
UAAP
battles wages on two courts
League sources tell me that the UAAP
will revisit all their rules in the off-season but are wary of all the TROs.
This is the second such TRO filed against the league this season.
Also this first semester, the family of
UPIS cager Joshua General was able to secure the court order that allowed him
to play in the juniors basketball tournament.
The UAAP Player Eligibility Committee declared
General ineligible to play the rest of the season after he was found out to
have exhausted the five-year playing window for high school athletes.
He was initially cleared to play despite having
graduated twice from the elementary level, the first from Naga Parochial School
in 2008 and a second time in 2010 after he took up Grade Seven at Lourdes
School in Mandaluyong.
However, the league also learned that General
enrolled in San Beda high school in Taytay in 2008 as a freshman but dropped
out in the first semester of that school year.
The TRO secured by the
Generals allowed Joshua to play out the remainder of the season.
My league sources now fear that will
all the court rulings against them, what is to stop all the schools from
resorting to that tactic to get what they want.
A
record of controversy
It is a royal mess all right but that
is the league’s fault for coming up with all these stupid, prejudiced, unfair,
and malicious rules.
For all the success of the UAAP,
there’s an ugly side where sportsmanship has taken a backseat to winning. Or
winning at all costs.
Rules are routinely being passed to
circumvent the success of certain teams. Sometimes, because of the way the
rules are vaguely written, they are interpreted in a way to suit the purpose of
a few at the expense of others. Some rules are even passed as a means of even
punishing certain individuals. Even the scheduling of certain matches at times
looks suspicious.
The UAAP Board, supposedly composed of
athletic officials and educators (some aren’t), have oft been at odds with each
other. Decisions purportedly for the good for the league are sometimes made to
stop teams on the playing field.
One board member told me that during a
pre-season eligibility meeting, the school representative of a questioned athlete (who was disallowed to suit up) came up to him and cussed him for his decision to vote "no". The angry school representative called in a marker (because he sided with him on a previous decision).
As I said before, therein lies the
problem, some times decisions are arrived at to curry favors.
The years have seen a lot of
controversies crop up but this season has been the worst in memory.
It started in the pre-season with the
Senate hearing into the controversial Two-Year Residency Rule. Then there was
the Joshua General TRO against the UAAP. The number of suspensions and memos
from the UAAP Commissioner that drew a lot of flack from the different schools
(it all boils down to a lack of consistency and differences in interpretation).
There was the Bo Perasol suspension and the circumstances that led to it. There
was the forfeiture issue and as well as suspended players being courtside.
There was even former FEU player Pipo Noundou being banned. And that’s just
basketball and it is only the first semester!
If you go back to the league’s history,
they have a rap sheet that can fill up a book and this is an abbreviated list.
The first was in the 1960s when two
champions were declared as men’s champions – UE and UST – when both teams
figured in a fracas and it was deemed the match could no longer continue.
The second was in 1991 when the board
ordered a replay of a title match between FEU and La Salle over a player who
had fouled out but was on the court for a few more seconds. The latter refused
to play and as a result, the trophy was handed over to FEU.
In 1993 after UST swept the elimination
rounds and was declared champion, the Final Four was created the following
year. While I understand that a Final Four makes the league more exciting,
rather than reward a team for excellence, they make it even more difficult.
When UE swept the two elimination
rounds in 2007, they lost to La Salle that went through the stepladder format
before facing a rusty Red Warriors team that had not played for two weeks.
The following year, a thrice-to-beat
incentive was created in the event a team swept the elimination rounds again.
Really? Why not just give them the
title outright? Thrice-to-beat? Now that is making it extremely difficult for
the other team to win.
There have been residency rules on
Fil-Ams and foreigners as well that while correct, started out as a means to
curb La Salle’s success in the 1990s.
There’s more but I won’t go into that
anymore.
A
history lesson and winds of change
In 1924, Dr. Rogelio Ylanan, Physical
Education Director of the University of the Philippines got the various
athletic directors of Manila schools to form the NCAA. Yet eight years later,
three schools – NU, UP, and UST broke ranks over a series of disagreements.
They formed a tournament that eventually became the UAAP.
The UAAP grew into prominence when it
accepted two refugees from the NCAA, Ateneo in 1978, and La Salle later in
1986.
The league today now a massive success
and a hot ticket with no signs of stopping.
However, with all the progresses and
success, there came a slew of problems that I mentioned above.
I think that it is high time to review
a lot of what goes on in the UAAP.
Earlier this year, I said in some of my
statuses on social media that maybe it is time for Ateneo to explore leaving
the UAAP. I now realize that it is a wrong statement to make. There are a lot
of things to consider that I won’t go into detail. But first and foremost, an
attempt to fix the problems of the league must be made. If they are still not
yet corrected then maybe then we can really say, it’s time to go elsewhere.
It’s just a coincidence now but when
the three schools – NU, UP, and UST -- bolted the NCAA, the man who led State U
to a new pasture was a man named Candido Bartolome (who earned his degree in
Physical Education from Springfield College in Massachusetts and is considered
the ‘Father of Physical Education in the Philippines').
And today, in the midst of all this
residency rule storm is Mikee Bartolome (a distant relative of Prof. Candido Bartolome).
Are there winds of change coming?
Vic and Mikee Bartolome with Sen. Pia Cayetano after the filing of the complaint against the UAAP.
