UAAP rejects proposed NCAA merger
By Jasmine W. Payo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:10:00 01/08/2008
Filed Under: Basketball, Sport
MANILA, Philippines -- The UAAP board on Monday shot down the proposal to merge the varsity league with its counterpart from the NCAA.
School officials reached the decision in Monday’s board meeting after receiving a concept paper from the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas to unite the UAAP and the NCAA into one league.
“Everybody unanimously said no,” declared UAAP president Fr. Ermito de Sagon of host University of Santo Tomas.
“We do not want the UAAP to be merged with any league because we want to maintain our identity, tradition and history.”
But SBP executive director Patrick Gregorio, who floated the idea of an unprecedented UAAP-NCAA union about two weeks ago, stressed that the basketball federation never pushed for a total merger of the two leagues.
“We agree that we have to protect the tradition of both the NCAA and the UAAP; the word ‘merger’ never came from SBP,” said Gregorio. “As a matter of fact, in our letter, we proposed a soft working title, ‘Let’s play together in 2008?’”
The concept paper sent to the UAAP and the NCAA Monday used the words “fusion,” “combination” and “unification.”
One of the main concerns the UAAP board raised was the inevitably longer tournament schedule.
“That will be very problematic for our athletes,” said De Sagon.
Union will alienate other sports
“For the UAAP board, we see them more as students than as athletes. We’ll be putting so much basketball in their schedule. They will be playing just like the pros. There’s no problem with the pros because that’s really their life, day in and day out. But we’re dealing with students and their schedule is such that they have to spend more time in the classroom than on the basketball court.”
Officials added that the proposed union will alienate the other varsity sports.
“The UAAP and the NCAA are not just about basketball,” said De Sagon. “You don’t just merge the two leagues in basketball and leave out the other sporting events.”
Despite the rebuff, Gregorio said the BAP-SBP will continue to extend its invitation for a “special meeting” among officials of the two leagues on Thursday at the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. office.
“We support the concerns of the UAAP; it’s simply a matter of sitting down and discussing it thoroughly,” said Gregorio.
“We have no intention of merging both the NCAA and the UAAP. It’s an invitation to play together, before or after the season. We respect the idea that there should be a UAAP champion and an NCAA champion. Contracts will also be respected.”
Member confirms Gregorio plan
A board member confirmed that Gregorio broached the idea of the two leagues playing against each other last year to highlight the centennial celebration of University of the Philippines, next season’s host school.
“But there was never any talk of a merger,” Dr. Sergio Cao, UP chancellor, said.
The NCAA is not averse to playing with the UAAP, however.
“The NCAA is willing to sit down and discuss the possibility of playing with the UAAP in the 2008 basketball season,” said NCAA management committee member Henry Atayde of the College of St. Benilde. “But issues must be settled at the end of the month because that’s our deadline.”
In a previous interview, BAP-SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan said the UAAP-NCAA union is just the initial step of a basketball program that aims to streamline the collegiate leagues nationwide.
“We are open to proposals of playing for a truly national championship because we have actually been doing that already,” said De Sagon. “And besides, we are also available to lending our players from other sports, not just basketball.”
De Sagon added: “Even if they use their power as the SBP board, the UAAP will not just give in to that just because it’s basketball. There’s no law that can prohibit us from playing basketball in this country. If they don’t recognize our league, we’ll just play because it’s just a school league.”
Still, the BAP-SBP said it has no plans of junking the proposal.
“We’ll continue to reach out to the distinguished members of the UAAP,” said Gregorio. “From Day 1, we know that there will be many issues and concerns.”
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