By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
After former UST Growling Tigers team captain and stalwart CJ Cansino revealed the suffering they underwent in their hidden practice bubble in Sorsogon, things escalated quickly after the versatile swingman exposed screenshots of their group chat.
Several players were complaining about the accommodation in Sorsogon including the food and the lack of healthcare in their two-month practice bubble.
Clamors like oily and unhealthy food and the lack of medicine for players who experienced sickness were all over the group chat and until now, head coach Aldin Ayo and the rest of his staff remains silent on the issue.
With the UST fiasco creating a large shade over the basketball scene in the Philippines, PBA players took different sides on whether the Growling Tigers squad were only over reacting to the conditions or really had legitimate concerns.
Allein Maliksi, Vic Manuel, and Leo Avenido chose to contradict the Growling Tigers’ clamor of their situation.
In their social media posts, the trio concluded that in the first place, they should be thankful that they have food on their table and still had a place to sleep after practice.
Maliksi bared that during his time in UST, he and his teammates were already satisfied with siomai rice and hotdogs as a recovery meal after their intense practice sessions.
For Manuel, the Gilas Pilipinas power forward said that they should be thankful for the fact that they were given the opportunity to play and at the same time receive their basic needs because during his era, food and budget was always the issue and they just rely on the chance given to them to hold the ball and seek greater opportunities.
Kidding aside, Leo Avenido shared that during his varsity days, fish and soy sauce was his only go-to-meal because of poverty, finishing his Facebook status with “Aarte nyo although mistreated pero kailangan mo tiisin paghirapan mo muna saka ka giginhawa.”
They further stated that instead of murmuring and clamoring about their situation in Sorsogon, they should just be thankful that they were named as part of the UST men’s basketball varsity squad.
However, I think they should be looking at the bigger picture.
I think they forgot that we are in the midst of a pandemic, and that they should not compare their experiences because during their time, everything was stable as compared to now when the country is fighting a crisis, geez.
Also, these are kids who are breaking the rules just to shoot a ball into a hoop and by doing so, putting their lives at risk.
Mental health, emotional health, and physical health are also things that the school should consider before subjecting these players to a private practice bubble.
One of the PBA players that raised these issues is Jayvee Mocon of the Rain or Shine Elastopainters.
According to Mocon, the thing that they should consider first and foremost is that these players were mistreated amid a pandemic, and that is already a big blow to the school.
“They were mistreated, yun yung punot dulo. I understand where they are coming from and saludo ako sa inyo, in a way naranasan ko rin yan, pero if they can provide better food bakit hindi? They expected more. They deserve better,” posted Mocon in his social media account.
The bottom line to this issue is PBA players should never take sides in this kind of situation, they should always remember that things are very different now from what we considered normal then.
In a crisis, you can never tell what goes on in a person’s mind. Just take it back to March, April, and May when the Philippines was placed under total lockdown. People weren’t able to go out, could not go to the places that usually ease their stress, they can’t even visit their loved ones if they have problems.
This UST fiasco is bigger than basketball.
Instead of taking sides, these players should unite and act like big brothers to these athletes who were mistreated.
Times have changed.
