CHEd probes UST over team’s ‘bubble training’

The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) wants to find out if the University of Santo Tomas (UST) allowed its men’s basketball team to hold “bubble training” in Sorsogon despite the restrictions imposed by the government.

CHEd Chair Prospero de Vera said the likelihood of imposing sanctions depends on whether the training was permitted by UST or not, among other factors.

“It depends on where the lapses lie. If the mistake was sanctioned by the school, the responsible official who can be sanctioned by the CHEd would be the school authorities,” said De Vera at a press briefing. “But if the mistake was internal to the school, the one which can impose sanctions would be the school itself.”

“It depends on what really happened. We don’t know that for now, so it’s hard for us to say who and what sanction can be imposed,” said the CHEd chair who was asked by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to take part in the probe of the UST Growling Tigers’ alleged “bubble” practices in Capuy, Sorsogon.

Prospero de Vera

Facebook messages

The IATF only allowed professional basketball and football teams to conduct training and conditioning sessions and, if the collegiate athletic team did hold training in Sorsogon, it could have been in violation of quarantine.

The alleged “bubble” training of the UST men’s basketball team in Sorsogon came to light after former UST team captain CJ Cansino left the Growling Tigers.

Cansino revealed the alleged poor conditions in the training camp and posted screenshots of Facebook messages of what he and his former teammates experienced in Sorsogon.

At a press briefing on Thursday, De Vera said the CHEd joined the investigation, given that the incident involves UST students who happen to be college athletes.

CJ Cansino —TRISTAN TAMAYO

Who’s behind this?

“On the part of CHEd, our concern is the violation of IATF regulations because these are children, and age-group wise, they should not be outside of their homes,” De Vera said.

He noted that at the start of the lockdown in March, the CHEd directed higher education institutions to ensure that students on internships abroad be immediately brought home.

“The CHEd wants to find out, whose decision [was] this? Because the accountable officials, as far as the CHEd is concerned, are the university officials. So we’re waiting for UST’s report to see who authorized this,” De Vera said, adding that the investigating body will meet next week to tackle the report on UST’s internal probe and decide on next steps.