Lacson debunks La Salle report

Raul "Awoo" Lacson, whom La Salle tagged as one of the two involved in the UAAP eligibility scam, yesterday took exception to the school’s fact-finding committee’s report and swore that he never falsified any document for any player to gain entry to La Salle.

"I never fabricated anything for any player to gain admission to La Salle," Lacson told The STAR . "I’m willing to take a lie detector test to prove that I’m telling the truth."

La Salle the other day named Lacson, a contractual statistician of the school’s men’s basketball team, as the one responsible for securing Mark Benitez and Tim Gatchalian’s spurious documents to gain varsity eligibility.

Although he admitted to have brought Benitez to the DepEd (Department of Education) testing center in Pasig City to take the PEP (Philippine Educational Placement) test in April 2002, Lacson said that was the last time he had seen the cager until he came for practice in February or March 2003.

He added that he had nothing to do with Gatchalian, saying he never recommended the player to join the team and instead batted for two other cagers.

"My conscience is clear. I’m not worried because I know I did nothing wrong," added Lacson.

La Salle thought otherwise.

In its report, and based on the testimonies of Benitez and Gatchalian, La Salle said it was Lacson who furnished the spurious PEP test certification results to the players although it said that it discovered the ineligibility of Benitez only during the recent finals of the 68th UAAP season.

A full-time staffer of Sen. Ralph Recto, Lacson, 39, attended grade school, high school and college in La Salle, finishing with a degree in business administration in La Salle Bacolod in 1991. In 1999, he said he was asked by coach Franz Pumaren to help out the team and was signed up by Danny Jose, La Salle’s director for sports development, in 2001 as the team’s statistician.

"I was never a liaison officer, although part of my job was watching high school games, recruiting players and bringing them to La Salle. I enjoyed doing it but I also make sure that the players take their entrance exams on time," said Lacson.