Testing Sen. Pia’s patience

UAAP executive director Atty. Rebo Saguisag, a brilliant lawyer like his late father Sen. Rene, has declared that the new rule deducting two years of playing eligibility on a student-athlete transferring from one UAAP school to another isn’t a circumvention of the law. In fact, he said he’s ready to face Sen. Pia Cayetano, author of RA 10676 protecting student-athletes’ rights, and defend the rule.

The previous UAAP rule stipulated one-year residency and one-year deduction of playing eligibility for a transferring student-athlete from one UAAP school to another. A student-athlete transferring from a non-UAAP school to a UAAP school is required to establish one-year residency but no deduction of playing eligibility is made. In the UAAP, the maximum playing eligibility is five years with an age limit of 25.

Under the law, only a one-year residency is permitted. Deducting a year or two of playing eligibility is not mentioned. In the US NCAA, a student-athlete may transfer from one school to another and is required to establish a one-year residency without losing any year of playing eligibility. The UAAP managed to impose the deduction of one year of eligibility for a transferring student-athlete without objection from lawmakers. But with the new rule deducting two years of eligibility, it appears the UAAP is testing Sen. Cayetano’s patience. Atty. Saguisag is even challenging Sen. Cayetano to call a hearing on this issue and he’ll stand his ground.

Sen. Cayetano recently came out blasting the UAAP for imposing the new rule. If the new rule is supposed to curb piracy or poaching of student-athletes, she said there are ways to address the problem other than penalizing student-athletes. While the new rule may not violate the letter of the law, is it a circumvention appearing to go against the spirit of the law? Sen. Cayetano noted that student-athletes may opt to transfer for reasons not related to poaching. For instance, if a student-athlete believes he or she has a better chance to showcase his or her skills in another school, why hinder the opportunity? “Paano kung hindi kasundo and feeling hindi ka-belong,” she said. “There are many reasons why students desire to move.”

Sen. Cayetano said it was “the height of arrogance and stupidity” for the UAAP to deduct one more year of playing eligibility. She called it “kalokohan” to limit a student-athlete’s eligibility. As a former UAAP athlete, Sen. Cayetano said student-athletes sacrifice so much to play and with this new rule, their years of eligibility are reduced if they decide to transfer. “Don’t penalize athletes,” she said. “Bawal ang ibang klaseng residency requirement. UAAP Board, nakikiusap naman ako. Yes, I understand, hindi ako bobo. I understand may issue kayo (about piracy) then solve it in an adult way, don’t punish the kids, don’t punish the athletes.”