Nigerian San Beda cager brings case to CHR

INQUIRER Photo August dela Cruz

MANILA, Philippines—A San Beda basketball player is set to file a formal complaint to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Tuesday after the NCAA Policy Board and Management Committee allegedly “overlooked the incident” that triggered the brawl involving the SBC men’s basketball team and the San Sebastian women’s volleyball squad.

Ola Adeogun, San Beda’s prolific Nigerian cager, said in a complaint affidavit obtained by the Inquirer that “an unprovoked racial slur uttered against [him]” sparked the melee but the “gravity of this utterance was simply set aside as of no significance by the ManComm in its investigation.”

Among the cases of human rights violation covered by the CHR is “discrimination as to sex, color, religion and nationality.”

The December riot—which allegedly started when a San Sebastian men’s volleyball player called Adeogun “Hey unggoy (monkey)”—also saw Lions basketball coach Frankie Lim and volleyball coach Roger Gorayeb figuring in a physical and verbal confrontation which disrupted a women’s volleyball match at the SBC gym.

Adeogun said he understands some Tagalog words, having lived in Manila for over two years.

Also noted in Adeogun’s complaint was the “unofficial decision” of the league slapping him a one-year ban while issuing no sanction on the Stags men’s volleyball player.

The league has yet to issue a formal verdict on the case but has “announced to the affected teams verbally” the recommended sanctions, which Adeogun said was “improperly served.”

League officials also recommended a two-year suspension on Lim and Gorayeb, one-year ban on San Beda’s Fil-Am player Julius Armon and one-game suspension on other San Beda players involved in the scuffle.