La Salle cries out for justice

Although no formal protest has been filed to question La Salle rookie Mark Cardona’s eligibility, it appears that the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Board is determined to disqualify the Archers’ crack guard.

That’s the assessment of De La Salle University President Bro. Rolly Dizon in light of a 6-1 board vote last Friday interpreting the eligibility requirement of "at least three years (of) studying abroad" to consider a fraction of a year as constituting an entire year.

Under UAAP eligibility rules, no athlete who has studied abroad for three years in the last five years is allowed to play in the league unless he establishes a two-year residency. The same rules stipulate one year to mean 365 days and two years to mean 730 days – not a fraction of a year less.

In Cardona’s case, the records show that he studied for two years and three months at Carson High School in California. Cardona dropped out of Grade 11 at Carson on Dec. 4, 1998. He went to Manila, tried out for the National University team under coach Manny Dandan, studied at Jose Rizal High for five months, then returned to the US. Cardona came back to Manila last year.

In April this year, Cardona passed the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) educational placement test and was accepted into La Salle as a freshman last June.

Cardona was listed in the La Salle lineup this season and declared eligible by the UAAP Screening Committee. The deadline for protesting a player’s eligibility lapsed last Aug. 17 or 24 hours before the start of the second round of the basketball tournament.

Bro. Dizon said the UAAP Board’s recent decision to interpret a fraction of a year as a year is "legally incorrect and morally unjust."

"First, the eligibility rule in question has been substantially changed," continued Bro. Dizon. "For the UAAP Board to now say that their intention was ‘any portion of any three years’ and not ‘at least three years’ is to admit that they made a mistake in the actual wording of the rule. They cannot take the present rule, interpret it to mean differently, then use it retrospectively to declare Cardona ineligible. If this happens it will be a travesty of justice."

Bro. Dizon appealed to the UAAP Board’s sense of justice in ruling on the Cardona case even as no formal protest was ever filed before the Aug. 17 deadline.

"Change the rule if you must but apply it prospectively," he said. "Justice demands nothing less."