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Saturday, September 17, 2005
Oyson: Cop brings gun inside USC Gym; it goes off
By Manuel N. Oyson, Jr.
Counter Punch
There will always be some hotheads, especially in basketball. I speak of our own in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. or anywhere else in the country.
At every tournament opening, a player, with hundreds of others, solemnly intones in public the oath of sportsmanship, either as a sincere evocation from within or a purely mechanical utterance from what he reads from his left hand.
The oath of sportsmanship or the spirit it conveys can go to hell later. It is observed more in the breach than in the performance.
What happened in our own Cesafi tournament last Sunday at the USC Gym is a disgrace and a shame to the association and to the respective schools to whom the involved players belong. A free-for-all occurred just as the game was winding up between the University of San Carlos and the University of Cebu.
Punches were thrown and monobloc chairs were flying before the melee subsided. UC was ahead, 89-83. Both USC and UC authorities condemned the incident. Fr. Vic Uy, the USC athletic director, reminded his players that basketball is not like boxing.
WORST EVER. Our colleague, Gabby G. Malagar of The Freeman, who was at ringside, wrote that it was the worst game ever in the history of the Cesafi, the former Cebu Amateur Athletic Association (CAAA). It was fortunate that it was not televised. Only those inside the gym - and there were a few - as The Freeman’s pictures Tuesday showed, witnessed the embarrassing spectacle.
Sun.Star Cebu’s own on-site reporter missed a big story. He had already left to file his story for the next day’s edition based on the previous two games played that night.
What perturbed me though is the report that a policeman, said to be related to one of the offending players, fired a warning shot at the height of the near-riot.
It was fortunate that the aim was fired upwards and the bullet did not ricochet.
A gun blast inside a closed space or auditorium is enough to cause alarm and panic, no matter the purpose, like quelling a prospective riot. But why a person, a law enforcer he may be, was allowed to get inside with a service firearm, is something only Cesafi authorities can explain.
CHILLING. Correct me if I am wrong. But as I understand it, there is a presidential decree against carrying firearms or dangerous weapons inside closed premises like theatres, gambling houses and nightclubs. Even shopping malls. You are supposed to deposit these at the door before you are allowed entry. There are big sports promotions like PBA games or boxing that sometimes need adequate security. But I do not see any of those assigned as security detail openly brandishing any firearm, especially a long arm. They carry only batons or sticks. And handcuffs.
The sight of law officers brandishing long arms inside the Cebu Coliseum or USC Gym is enough to create a chilling effect among the crowd. What if the gun accidentally goes off? I recall some years back while during a game between two high-profile visiting teams, I saw a policeman in uniform actually carrying an Armalite inside the USC Gym. He was standing right beside the scorer’s table - his Armalite cradled in his right hand and immensely enjoying the game. But not facing the crowd as they are supposed to do. Nobody paid any attention to him as the spectators were glued to the exciting game and I did not have the heart to ask him to take the gun outside.
TASK FOR PNP. The office of the Cesafi commissioner has already meted a one-game suspension on both USC and UC. The game, however, was awarded to UC as it was leading USC, 89-83, with 1:38 left before the bench-clearing occurred. It was just the players who actually initiated the fracas, who were suspended. But the entire teams were penalized one game apiece. It is not for me to judge if the decision was right or wrong. I did not see the incident in the first place.
I write this as the Cesafi board of commissioners, on the directive of Cesafi president Jose “Dodong” Gullas, was supposed to further investigate and decide yesterday if additional sanctions are to be imposed on the erring players of both schools, UC’s Allain Abellanosa and USC’s Ahman James Tagalog.
Cesafi commissioner Mitchell Duran was to be assisted by lawyers Joseph Baduel and Reynoso Belarmino in the probe. Gullas also wants to know why a policeman was allowed to bring his gun inside the gym. I believe this task belongs to the Philippine National Police.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The President continues to get a free ride with no sign of correcting this faulty set-up.” – PDI sports columnist Recah Trinidad, commenting that Malacañang has suddenly loomed like a world boxing power, although it has no decent national boxing program in place.
(sports@sunstar.com.ph)
(September 17, 2005 issue)
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