There was no practice that took place when Nigerian big man Bright Akhuetie visited the home of his coach Bo Perasol last month.
Perasol said this when he answered accusations alleging that the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons men’s basketball team have been holding training sessions last month.
One session allegedly took place while parts of the National Capital Region and the Southern Luzon region were under General Community Quarantine.
“That was August 1. Bright visited me at my home, had a shootaround, and he was all alone,” said Perasol in an interview with the Manila Standard.
Perasol made this clarification before the Board of Managing Directors (BMD) of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines during a virtual meeting yesterday.
The meeting tackled the issues surrounding the University of Santo Tomas men’s basketball team and the National University women’s volleyball squad.
The case of the Fighting Maroons was taken up since their situations are related, according to sources.
“Iyun nga ang tinatanong ko. Kung may violation ba iyan. Kasi nag-iisa nga siya. Kung marami, meron,” added Perasol.
The board will study if action will be taken after they receive the reports that UST and NU officials have forwarded to the Board of Trustees in their meeting last Friday.
There is a video footage of a shootaround involving center Bright Akhuetie, reportedly taken on August 1 which is supposed to have taken place in Silang, Cavite.
Cavite was under GCQ at that time.
Relevant action will be taken by the managing directors during the online conference.
Some members of the board believe sanctions will not be handed down by the UAAP since all three schools have not violated league rules.
Instead, it should be the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases which should hand down penalties, according to sources.
A government panel is currently looking into possible health and safety protocol violations that may have been committed by the UST Growling Tigers men’s basketball team and the NU Lady Bulldogs women’s volleyball team.
The body known as the Joint Administrative Order Group is composed of officials from the Philippine Sports Commission, the Games and Amusement Board, the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Health.
In a Zoom web conference last Tuesday, UST presented its case through legal counsel Atty. Melvin Verzosa and Atty. Elgin Perez. They handed details that the university collated on the Growling Tigers’ training camp in Sorsogon, Bicol.
NU athletic director Otie Camangian talked about the events that the Lady Bulldogs went through when they were stranded.
Camangian said this took place when the team transferred from NU’s campus in Manila to Laguna last March, days before the quarantine lockdowns were handed down.