NOT guilty, for now.
Despite incriminating pieces of evidence that University of Santo Tomas breached the government’s stringent COVID-19 health protocols, the Commission on Higher Education gave UST a show cause order and left it to the Department of Justice to probe whether the school indeed violated health rules.
“That will be the next step, due process. There is a show cause order from the part of the Commission,” CHED chairperson Prospero De Vera III said yesterday in a joint press conference on the resumption of collegiate training in school premises.
“It is too early to conclude because fact finding pa lang ang tapos, it’s now on the DOJ to dig deeper into this matter,” he added.
The Growling Tigers held a training bubble at the hometown of former coach Aldin Ayo in Capuy, Sorsogon City that began in mid-June.
Also given a show cause order was National University, under the microscope after its women’s volleyball squad allegedly held workouts at its Sampaloc and Laguna campuses.
The Sports Joint Administrative Order group, composed of the Games and Amusements Board, Department of Health, Philippine Sports Commission, and CHED submitted its report to the DOJ also yesterday.
“The CHED show cause order is for the violation of CHED advisories in March. (Suspension of all levels and all school activities. And instructing the HEIs in Luzon to advise their student, faculty and staff for movement restriction) and another CHED advisory in May,” explained De Vera.
“Mass gatherings prohibited such as ceremonies and school activities, until the IATF prohibition is lifted. That’s the show cause orders for the school to explain why they should not be sanctioned.”
UST’s bubble was pricked after CJ Cansino said he was booted out of the team due to “defiance of authority” last Aug. 21.
Cansino, who joined University of the Philippines, asked Ayo if he and his teammates could return to Manila but that led to a disagreement and his shocking exit from the squad.
It was reported that part of the P3 million budget allocated for the Sorsogon bubble was allegedly used to upgrade the ABC (Ayo Basketball Camp) Ideas Gym, reportedly owned by Ayo.
Photos and videos that were later deleted showed UST players playing at the ABC Gym.
A copy of a waiver that the players and their parents or legal guardians signed to be able to join the training camp has also surfaced online.
Cansino, 20, revealed that the Tigers suffered in Sorsogon, while big man Ira Bataller claimed he suffered from abdominal pain during the Sorsogon bubble, but the coaches ignored his condition.
Ayo, together with assistant coaches McJour Luib and Jiniño Manansala, resigned last Friday. UST accepted their resignations last Saturday.
