Energen Pilipinas guard Hubert Cani fights Japan’s Daiki Kaneko for the loose ball as Nic Dalafu looks on.
President Aquino has signed into law the measure that dissolves a controversial residency rule for student-athletes just a week before the UAAP men’s basketball tournament kicks off.
The President signed Republic Act No. 10676, which scraps the UAAP’s two-year residency rule for high school student-athletes transferring to a different school for college.
Sen. Pia Cayetano, the main proponent of the bill, said the “UAAP residency issue will now be put to rest” after the President signed the bill Wednesday.
Season 78 is set to unfold on Sept. 5 at Araneta Coliseum.
The UAAP Board, which had earlier declared that the law cannot be applied retroactively, is also set to meet Tuesday to discuss, among other things, the appeal of Ateneo for the board to reconsider its decision on prized recruit Hubert Cani.
Cani was declared ineligible under the residency rule that was first invoked when FEU junior star Jerie Pingoy transferred to Ateneo two years ago.
Still, UAAP eligibility committee chair Edwin Reyes of La Salle said league officials will tackle the implications of the new law.
Cani’s father reached out to the UAAP board at the heels of the newly signed law. “I am appealing to the members of the UAAP board to allow my son to play,” said Angelito Cani, a physical education teacher at De La Salle-Dasmariñas.
“I know that the board is saying that the rule cannot be applied on Hubert, but look it’s now a law and we are supposed to follow the law,” he added. “Our family is hoping for a change of hearts among the members of the board.”
Cani, a former Philippine youth team and National University juniors standout, sat out for the Eagles last season to fulfill his residency.
Last June, the Senate and the House ratified the bicameral version of the bill that also looks to regulate the benefits that schools offer to athletes. With a report from Dennis Eroa, Inquirer Libre