Student-athletes can train soon, says CHED

In three weeks or less, student-athletes can return to training. The Chairman of the Higher Education Commission, Prospero de Vera III, said this moments after Malacanang announced that college players from different disciplines can resume training in general community quarantine and modified general community quarantine areas. “Pinakamatagal na ang tatlong linggo, based on our experience in developing guidelines with universities. Kasi, iyung process na ginagawa ng CHED, we involved the universities in the development of the guidelines, ”said De Vera. De Vera discussed his plans for collegiate athletes during a web conference with members of the tripartite body known as the Joint Administrative Order Group. Also present were the president of the Philippine Sports Commission, William Ramirez, the director of national training Marc Velasco, the president of the Board of Games and Fun, Abraham Mitra, and the undersecretary of the Department of Health, Rosette Vergeire. A Technical Working Group was formed after De Vera had a meeting with the Dean of the Faculty of Human Kinetics at the University of the Philippines, Francis Díaz, and the director of the Chooks-to-Go 3×3 tournament, Eric Altamirano. With Diaz’s participation, the Philippine University Athletic Association will most likely be involved in the development of the TWG’s recommendations, as he is on the UAAP Board of Directors. The formation of the TWG comes after the JAO group concluded its investigation into the Growling Tigers men’s basketball team at the University of Santo Tomás and the women’s volleyball team at the National University for violations of health and safety protocol. The JAO group brought its findings to the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior and Local Government also yesterday. The panel believes that violations may have been committed when the Growling Tigers did team training at Sorsogon, while lockdown protocols were still in effect.

The Lady Bulldogs were also in a similar situation after several athletes were stranded on the school’s Calamba, Laguna campus when the closures began last March. De Vera said it will now be up to the Justice Department to issue an order to the UST and UN camps to launch a full investigation and implement possible sanctions. “The order will require that they explain why sanctions will not be imposed on officials, teaching and non-teaching staff for non-compliance with the guidelines,” De Vera said. According to a Sept. 3 resolution from the government’s Interagency Infectious Disease Management Task Force, those who can resume their “preparatory training” are student-athletes from college athletic associations as defined in the Student-Athlete Protection Act. . Therefore, De Vera said that there will be adjustments in which they can participate. This will allow a group of young people under the age of 21 to join the trainings. Last week there was a change in the discussion of the JAO group after they learned the ages of the UST athletes, who went to Sorsogon to train. They learned that 11 of the 17 players who allegedly participated were under 21 years of age.