The Lady Bulldogs allegedly also held an unauthorized out-of-town training. —SHERWIN VARDELEON
As the heat intensifies on University of Santo Tomas (UST) with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ (IATF) tripartite body for sports sits down anew on Wednesday to tackle the Growling Tigers’ training in Sorsogon province, a little spotlight will begin to shift to National University (NU), whose women’s volleyball team also reportedly breached quarantine protocols.
UST has already launched an internal probe on the Tigers’ supposed unsanctioned bubble training in the hometown of their coach, Aldin Ayo.
National U, meanwhile, has remained tight-lipped on the matter, which is now being investigated by the special IATF committee made up of the representatives from the Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Games and Amusements Board (GAB).
Reports have circulated over the weekend indicating that the Lady Bulldogs have been practicing in a facility at NU’s new campus in Calamba, Laguna province, while most of Luzon was put under various levels of quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic.
GAB Chair Abraham Mitra told the Inquirer on Tuesday that the government probers will also look at the NU case.
Images and video clips—many of which have since been deleted—reportedly show members of the team indeed training around March, the same month when Metro Manila and several parts of Luzon were placed under enhanced community quarantine.
Sources said team officials reportedly suspended practices and issued a gag order when someone allegedly filed a complaint at the DOH.
The DOH, however, has yet to receive a copy of any complaint regarding unsanctioned training sessions.
“No official report of this nature has been filed to DOH as of yet,” Carlos Lazaro, the agency’s communications head, told the Inquirer.
The Inquirer has also reached out to NU coach Norman Miguel and his deputy, Regine Diego, who both declined to comment on the matter.
“The school will issue an official statement if necessary,” Miguel said.
A person familiar with the situation, however, said that many of the Lady Bulldogs’ entries on popular social media site Instagram showed the athletes training at Inspire Sports Academy, NU’s state-of-the-art facility in Laguna.
The IATF’s joint administrative order only allows professionals from the PBA and the Philippines Football League to resume training and only via individual workouts.
PSC Chair William Ramirez said that his office has received tips on other schools’—in other sports—supposed breach of quarantine guidelines.