Senate tackles new UAAP rule

THE NEW UAAP residency requirement will be tackled during a Senate hearing tomorrow where Sen. Pia Cayetano will try to convince the league board to reverse the controversial rule she described as a “cruel and unjust punishment” for varsity athletes.

Cayetano, chair of the Senate youth committee, set the hearing and launched an online petition against the new rule requiring foreigners and UAAP high school players transferring to a member-school for college to sit out for two years.

“The new UAAP rule is an unreasonable limit on an athlete’s freedom of choice and academic freedom to decide which college to enter,” Cayetano wrote in her petition.

The UAAP Board voted to extend its one-year residency requirement to two years in a meeting early this month, which prompted Cayetano to schedule a Senate inquiry on March 21.

But the hearing had been moved for tomorrow upon the request of the UAAP Board.

Several UAAP officials said revisions may still be adopted on the contentious rule.