UAAP residency rule would waste ‘prime time’ of athletes—Pia Cayetano

Senator Pia Cayetano. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Pia Cayetano questioned the two-year residency rule of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) in a Senate hearing Monday saying it would waste the “prime time” of the student-athletes.

Cayetano, chairman of the Senate Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations, asked league officials from UAAP member-schools why they would go so far as to let students sit out two years when transferring from one UAAP high school to a different UAAP college.

“[Why would you let them] sit out and waste two years of their prime time?” Cayetano said.

“I cannot say that this is the best interest of the student if this is the practice,” she said.

Under the UAAP rule, students graduating from a UAAP highschool will not be allowed to compete for two years if they enter a different UAAP College.

Previously, the residency rule was only one year. The increase in the number of years has drawn the ire of many students as well as athletes playing in the UAAP.

“What is the reasonable amount of pressure or actions to keep that student [in the school]?” she asked.

“Do we hold them back because we feel we have given them so much?” she told the UAAP board.