MANILA, Philippines – Alleged unethical practices that had gone unchecked in school athletics for years came up during a Senate hearing Thursday, April 10, on a bill that seeks to protect the rights of student athletes.
Most of the malpractices and the restricting effects of the residency rule cited were from various fields in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, leading the a University of the Philippines professor to propose new rules to govern the UAAP.
"We are branded as the 'tulisans' in the UAAP but we want to propose a new set of rules," Ronualdo Dizer of the UP College of Human Kinetics told the committee on education, arts, and culture that was hearing for the first time Senator Pia Cayetano's Senate Bill 2166 or "An Act Providing for the Magna Carta of Student-Athletes."
Dizer said malpractices had gone on in the UAAP because there are no laws yet to regulate the practices that universities resort to just to keep good atheletes.
Among the many rules Dizer wants to get institutionalized are:
- banning foreign players from participating in the UAAP
- setting an allowance cap for athletes
- allowing students to transfer from one school to another if they have not been elevated to Team A status after a year
"There are no limits for financial packages or benefits. There should be an allowance cap. Students should also be allowed to transfer from one school to another without financial obligations if they were not promoted to Team A after a year," he said.
Cayetano: There should be no commercialization
Cayetano also called out athletic associations on the practice by some schools of offering excessive benefits just to lure athletes into transferring to or staying with them – as if the league is about money.
While Cayetano recognizes the right of student-athletes to enroll in the school of his or her choice, she believes there are some instances where student athletes transfer because of "scholarship with benefits."
"I have nothing against people earning money from sports, but not when you're a student athlete," said Cayetano. "We have to self-regulate. My challenge is to call it a student athletic association, not a commercial league."
She added the problem persists because parents allow their children to be treated as a commercial commodity and because there are benefits given without the amounts being disclosed.
"Lumilipat ang mga bata because of piracy, dahil sa scholarship with benefits. Some receive house and lots or cars. Ayaw natin mangyari 'yun," she added. (Some transfer because of piracy, because they're given scholarship with benefits. Some receive house and lots or cars. We don't want that to happen.)
Section 7.21 of Cayetano's proposed law wants to limit student-athlete benefits to tuition, board and lodging, uniforms, and reasonable living allowance.
"The student athlete is first and foremost a student and secondly an athlete; to this end, his or her rights as student shall be paramount at all times," said Cayetano, who also chairs the committee.
Among the many rights Cayetano wants to give student-athletes should the bill be legislated into a law are: the right to have their education needs prioritized by their school or organization (Section 5.1), the right to be provided with safe and healthy environment for practice (Section 5.2), choose his/her own school (Section 5.3).
Shorten residency rule
In the highly-tackled part of the bill (Section 5.3b) Cayetano wants to shorten to one year the current two-year residency requirement before college student athletes are allowed to transfer schools, and to remove the residency requirement for high school students wishing to transfer to another high school, college, or university.
The bill states: "It is the right of a student-athlete to be free from any act of restriction or punishment from his old and/or new school due to his transfer from the former to the latter, Provided, that a one-year residency shall be respected by the school and athletic association in case of a transfer from one college or university to another. In no case shall this residency rule apply to a high school student who transferring to another school or to a college or university."
In 2013, Cayetano lambasted the UAAP board for implementing a new rule for Season 76, popularly called the "Jerie Pingoy rule" as it was named after the former Far Eastern University (FEU) junior star Jerie Pingoy who decided to transfer to Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) for college.
Under the new UAAP rule, a player who shall transfer from one member school to another is required to sit it out for two seasons or get a release from their previous school; since Pingoy was not granted a release by FEU, he won't be eligible to play for the Blue Eagles until Season 78.
Swimmer Mikee Bartolome of the University of the Philippines (UP) - who transferred from University of Santo Tomas (UST) - also faced the same controversy as she faced a two-year residency rule.
But with the help of Cayetano, a staunch supporter of student-athletes, the issue was taken to the Supreme Court, leading to a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that allowed Bartolome to participate in the UAAP Season 76 swimming competitions.
Boycotts marred the swimming tournament last September 2013 with two member schools – UST and La Salle – refusing to join if Bartolome swims. Only Ateneo and UP went toe to toe in the competitions with the tankers from UP emerging as overall champions. READ: Bartolome wins, but boycotts mar UAAP swimming
Bartolome's father shared in the hearing on Thursday that their family had to go through hardships days before the swimming competition just to get a TRO. He added Mikee still has to serve a one-year residency.
"There is a directive that the UAAP shall bar my daughter from playing because she has not yet served a one-year residency."
Senator Cynthia Villar, who was present at the hearing, also expressed her disgust over the two-year residency rule.
"I don't understand this two-year residency rule. Students change schools. They go to different schools for better opportunities or education," she said.
Equal opportunities
Cayetano also exchanged ideas with representatives from athletic associations like the NAASCU, WNCAA, and SCUAA.
She wants to explore the possibility of giving a venue for differently-abled athletes to excel, and also giving equal opportunites to men and women.
"My perception is that a huge chunk of the benefit is going to men's basketball," Cayetano said during the public hearing.
Once passed, the bill will oblige schools to back their student athletes (Section 7), providing them with the proper support like shouldering their tuition fees, allowances, and providing them with medical care, proper equipment or facilities that shall help them in fulfilling their responsibilities as stipulated in Section 5. At the same time, Cayetano wants to limit the benefits as to not 'commercialize' the student-athletes.
Cayetano also challenged school officials to look at student-athletes' academic performances in such way there shall be no special treatment, like the fabrication of grades.
The student-athletes meanwhile (Section 6) shall be tasked to observe a set of responsibilities, like conducting themselves in a good manner, voluntarily joining trainings or workshops prioritize their academic performance, and refraining from using Performance-enhancing Drugs (PEDs). – Rappler.com 
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