‘Mac a cinch for NU but failed test’

A UAAP coach yesterday said that Mark Cardona, now a Talk n Text rookie, tried out for his varsity team in 2000 and although he had the tools to easily make it, he failed to join the squad because he reportedly flunked the Philippine Educational Placement Test Certificate of Rating (PEPTCR).

After taking in Cardona for two weeks in 2000, National University coach Manny Dandan said he was forced to let go of the former La Salle standout for failing the PEPTCR, a document that can be used as admission to college in the absence of a high school diploma.

"We could have enlisted him," Dandan told The STAR .

Dandan’s revelation bolstered The STAR report yesterday that a third Archer is under probe. The Department of Education is currently verifying if Cardona’s PEPTCR is indeed authentic.

Cardona, who also tried out for Jose Rizal U’s varsity team in 1999 but didn’t make it because of lack of admission papers, took the PEPTCR two years earlier than Tim Gatchalian and Mark Benitez, the two Archers in the current controversy.

If Dandan’s claim that Cardona had flunked the test is true, then the former Carson High student should have taken a second PEPTCR either the same year or in 2001, the year he played his first season and became part of La Salle’s champion team that year.

As this developed, there were reports that there are other ineligible players from other schools not only in the UAAP but also in the rival National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

According to another source, there are allegedly two players with fabricated PEPTCRs in Adamson, four in Philippine Christian U and one from reigning NCAA champion Letran.

However, Adamson, PCU, Letran and the NCAA denied the report.

"For two years that I’ve been in Letran, walang nag-PEPTCR sa basketball players ko," said NCAA Management Committee chair Fr. Vic Calvo, OP of Letran College. "Meron si Ronjay Enrile pero hindi naman fake. Madali naman ma-detect kung fake iyon."

Calvo said he would bat for stricter eligibility measures when the NCAA policy board meets on Oct. 26 in Subic Bay Freeport Zone.