As a graduate of the Union High School of Manila (Batch 85), my heart is heavy with the revelation that some of its sports officials and student athletes have cheated, resulting in the one year suspension of the Philippine Christian University or PCU from the NCAA for the coming school year.
The NCAA Policy Board, chaired by this year's president Vincent Fabella of Jose Rizal University, found damning evidence that some PCU high school sports officials orchestrated elaborate schemes for some athletes to take on the identities of other students or people who were ineligible, otherwise to play for the NCAA High School edition. In effect, 4 Baby Dolphins, namely JP Importante, James and Cesar Degano and Victor Miguel Oliveros faked their school records to get into the lineup.
(According to newspaper accounts, the identity switch was not clearly explained; some sources were saying that the players apparently submitted the school records of either a brother or a cousin to meet the 18-year age limit for high school cagers.)
The suspension resulted in having all four players ordered banned from the NCAA. The Baby Dolphins were also asked to return their second-place trophy together with the individual awards and had to forfeit PCU’s third place overall trophy in the high school division. The university was allowed to keep its over-all championship for the seniors division though.
PCU President Oscar Suarez apparently did not contest the NCAA's decision, which was announced this Monday, April 23, 2007. Suarez, as quoted from broadcast news sources that day and print sources yesterday Tuesday said that “this is a lesson learned... Just because of some erring personnel and athletes our school was gravely affected.”
Suarez had also instructed Fred Olano, PCU’s representative to the management committee to fire the coaching staff of the junior squad headed by Bong Sales.
The suspension comes in the wake of the victory of two Lady Dolphin spikers who won a hard fought battle in a beach volleyball tournament just this weekend, a victory that was clearly overshadowed by Monday's announcement.
PCU alumni all over are just coming to terms with this shameful and painful event, much like a crash from the exhilirating highs that the school's sports program had taken through the years since its entry into the NCAA less than a decade ago.
PCU's erring officials and athletes clearly did not learn anything from the equally painful and shameful experience of DLSU last year as well as the other experiences in the national level.
What is sad though is that I know for a fact that Union High School students are taught Christian values and discipline that allows them to be persons for Jesus Christ, as befits the largest Protestant university in Metro Manila.
Back in my time, sports victories were few and far between; the high school (now renamed to be the Union Integrated Science High School) pursued and were more successful in academic and spiritual pursuits.
Sadly I don't get to hear them excel in academics these days even as they racked up sports victories one after the other. But look where it got itself now - a suspension for the whole university due to corruption at the high school level! It seems to me that corruption is being started early in my beloved alma mater. That really hurts and it makes me angry as hell...
I will definitely follow up on this sad story as soon as I get to talk to the right people.
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