Coach Miriam could help Pido, and P-Noy, too

COACH Pido Jarencio, clearly outcoached in his previous game at the Big Dome, swears his team, University of Santo Tomas, has not lost the momentum despite being beaten by La Salle in their best-of-three playoff for this year’s UAAP basketball crown.

It’s hard to determine Jarencio’s honest intent.

If it’s to restore the confidence of his players, visibly and vividly scattered in Game 2, fine.

There’s a problem, though: UST, my alma mater, did not merely lose.

The team was badly beaten by rival La Salle because of a failed system on both ends of the court.

Jarencio must seek outside help and advice.

Or he could try and consult an eye doctor to help him with his myopia.

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Coach Pido, for one, could try and approach the sharp, vivacious Sen. Miriam Santiago, herself a tested sportswoman.

Let’s listen to Madame Miriam’s alarming observation about the threat of the Philippines becoming a failed state:

“State failure can be caused by rampant corruption, predatory elites who have long manipulated power, and an absence of the rule of law.”

She warned the Philippines may slip incredulously into a failed state if leaders in Congress (accused of plunder) succeed in derailing the delivery of justice.

“The greed for pork barrel among lawmakers is undermining government legitimacy,” Santiago stressed.

She added: “The behavior of my colleagues with respect to PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) and DAP (Disbursement Acceleration Program) have been so self-seeking that senators and representatives involved have crossed the line into kleptocracy or into state capture.”

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Anyway, going back to the UAAP Finals, it may help coach Jarencio to be told that they failed in Game 2 of the series mainly on the greed—the ball-hog ways—of those who should’ve pursued solid teamsmanship with a motion offense.

These assigned floor leaders instead did it their blind, selfish ways.

UST also failed miserably to mount a decent team defense.

* * *

Meanwhile, it need not be stressed here that Madame Miriam’s fierce focus on the corruption caused by greed for pork barrel in Congress was also a call—if not an outright coaching advice—on President Aquino to stay singularly focused in this most trying test of his otherwise robust leadership.

More than at anytime in his tenure, including that one when he was misled foolishly into solving the hostage drama (that resulted in the morbid massacre of Chinese tourists in front of Quirino Grandstand at Rizal Park) by remote control,

P-Noy cannot afford to blink.

He had fumbled a few times.

This time, he can’t afford to be called a “national playmaker who kept fumbling the ball.”

Even Senator Santiago no longer need to remind P-Noy about this.