I, as an organizer of community basketball tournaments, express my concern about the raging crisis in UAAP basketball, especially because some of the Manila-based universities like the University of the East and Adamson University, have been at a disadvantage.
The crisis must be addressed head on before the situation spins out of control. There must be accountability and transparency. Agapan na dapat ng UAAP bago lumala ang sitwasyon, bago humantong sa gulo, bago makuyog ang mga referees.
I also point out that the country needs many quality referees, tournament officials, coaches and training specialists and personnel with the necessary FIBA certifications and licenses. How many Filipino basketball referees and coaches in the local professional and amateur leagues have different levels of certification and licenses for local and FIBA international basketball?
We need them for the UAAP, NCAA, SCUAA, PRISAA, CESAFI, other local leagues and for the FIBA tournaments and the PBA. We also need them for the Palarong Pambansa, the Philippine National Games, the Batang Pinoy grassroots program, and the thousands of local leagues held every year all over the country. We should also learn the international style of play which we also saw during the FIBA World Cup.
Samantala, nagdiriwang ang Distrito 3 ng Maynila sa dalawang sunod na panalo sa PBA ng Northport Batang Pier at ng aming homegrown basketball star si Fran Yu sa kanyang unang game sa regular season ng PBA.
Fran Yu has been an outstanding defensive role player, using his basketball smarts and hustle. We are proud of Fran Yu and of what he is accomplishing now in the PBA as one of the rookies from the recent PBA Draft. We also congratulate and appreciate Northport Batang Pier coach Bonnie Tan for steering the team to victory and for his continuing trust and confidence in Fran Yu.
- Rep. Joel Chua, 3rd District of Manila
(Northern Manila Districts of Binondo,
Quiapo, San Nicolas, and Santa Cruz)