Is destroying dreams a UAAP pastime?

Former UAAP junior men’s basketball MVP Koko Pingoy is now 22 and four years after graduating from FEU high school, he’s starting a new collegiate career with Adamson next season.

In all, Pingoy would’ve sat out three years of residency by the time he suits up for the Falcons. From FEU high school, Pingoy decided to enrol at Ateneo, spurning invitations from at least two other schools. The UAAP Board threw the book at Pingoy for moving from one UAAP school to another, regardless of his graduation from the junior to the senior division. It was supposed to be an act of betrayal or disloyalty to his mother school, FEU, and Pingoy was made to pay the heavy price of a two-year residency, a new rule passed specifically to penalize the point guard.

Traditionally, a new UAAP rule is to take effect after a year. But Pingoy was an exceptional case. Every school – except Ateneo, of course – ganged up on the kid because he was supposed to be that good. Out of spite, Ateneo proposed another new rule for immediate effectivity requiring a foreign player to establish a two- year residency for his or her UAAP school. The rule was meant to delay La Salle recruit Ben Mbala’s entry. Under the old rule, he would’ve had to sit out only a year of residency to be eligible to play for La Salle because he’d been in the country one previous year. Naturally, every school – except La Salle, of course – grabbed the chance to postpone Mbala’s arrival.

While establishing residency, Mbala violated a rule of eligibility by playing in a weekend Christmas tournament sponsored by Manny Pacquiao in General Santos City. Pacquiao himself wrote a letter to the UAAP Board requesting leniency for Mbala because the Cameroonian played for charity. But as expected, the UAAP Board showed no sympathy, disregarded Pacquiao’s appeal and slapped another year of residency on Mbala to extend his delay to three full seasons. When Mbala finally made his La Salle debut this campaign, he was in tears entering the court from the dugout. He promised the La Salle community a championship for not giving up on him and delivered.

In Pingoy’s case, he made his UAAP debut with Ateneo in the 78th season but played in only seven games, averaging four points, hobbled by an ankle injury. It was a forgettable appearance for a once highly touted high school star. Pingoy has three more seasons to play for Adamson and fans are wondering if the three years of residency have dulled his competitive edge. The injustice of Pingoy’s two-year residency from high school graduation has been addressed by Congress and it’s now a law that a high school graduate may choose his or her college without establishing residency to be eligible as a senior athlete. The law is a rebuke to the heartless UAAP Board.

Now comes the case of Adamson junior cager Encho Serrano who has been declared ineligible by the UAAP Board after averaging nearly 20 points a game to lead the Baby Falcons to a 12-0 record. The decision to disqualify Serrano has meant reversing Adamson’s 12-0 record to 0-12.

The basis for the disqualification was the finding by a rival school that Serrano failed to submit his complete academic records to Adamson and the UAAP eligibility committee. The records did not include the two years he attended St. Vincent’ s Academy in A pal it, Pampanga . Serrano played varsity basketball in an inter-school South Zone during those two years. He failed in the first year and dropped out in the second.

Serrano submitted his academic records from Jose Escaler Elementary School that confirmed his graduation from Grade 6. He tried to get his transcript from St. Vincent’s but the papers were misplaced. When Serrano enrolled at Mapua high school ( Malayan High School of Science) for Grade 7, he was accepted without the St. Vincent’s documents. The pertinent transcript was from Jose Escaler showing his graduation from Grade 6. So when Serrano transferred to Adamson, the papers from St. Vincent’s were also not submitted. A resourceful spy dug into Serrano’s history and exposed the missing transcripts.

Obviously, this was a case of a human oversight. Adamson had nothing to gain by withholding or concealing the St. Vincent’s records. In fact, it had everything to lose by withholding the papers. So there was no advantage or motivation to hide the transcript. Submitting the St. Vincent’s papers wouldn’t have meant another year of residency or some kind of penalty. Surely, the UAAP Board understood the impact of the discovery.

Like snakes in a pit, the members of the UAAP Board pounced on Adamson and crucified Serrano. As in the case of Pingoy and Mbala, every UAAP school – except Adamson, of course – had something to gain by ruling Serrano ineligible. The biggest repercussion was eliminating title bet Adamson from championship contention outright. The other implication was stripping Serrano of his statistics and the chance to become the MVP.

Unfortunately, the UAAP Board blew an opportunity to redeem itself and show some compassion for a change. Because Adamson was clearly not guilty of concealing Serrano’s documents, maybe the UAAP Board could’ve lightened up on its sanction. Serrano, 17, didn’t know any better and deserved some kind of clemency. He could’ve been spared the shame of being declared ineligible. Instead, the UAAP Board went after Adamson and Serrano with a fully loaded shotgun.

Adamson junior assistant coach Rene Baena, 59, said the 5- 11 Serrano is a future PBA player with tremendous potential to become another Calvin Abueva. Baena’s credibility is unquestioned. A barangay captain from St. Peter in Quezon City, he worked with Bonnie Garcia and the Laguna Lakers in the MBA for two years, Lawrence Chongson at UE, Bong de la Cruz at UST and Ato Badolato at San Beda and was head coach at La Salle Greenhills for six years and San Beda Alabang for three. How this penalty will affect Serrano is a traumatic question mark.

With Serrano, the UAAP Board wields the power to destroy the young man’s basketball career even before it has taken off. The UAAP Board has crippled Pingoy’s career and it remains to be seen if he can ever recover from sitting out three seasons. The UAAP Board has made it a practice to go overboard in protecting individual school interests at the expense of players’ lives. Will the UAAP school presidents ever rise to stop the tyranny and heartless decisions of the UAAP Board?