Cager’s kin claim whitewash

A member of the family of one of two players involved in the PEP test scam yesterday alleged that La Salle whitewashed the investigation, covering the involvement of top officials by implicating an assistant team manager and a contractual statistician to the controversy.

Dissatisfied with the result of the investigation, the sources said the family will consult a lawyer as they intend to come out and divulge everything they know about the controversy.

"We’ll show the chronology of events and mention all the names of people we talked to and dealt with from the time before he (the player) went to JRU (Jose Rizal University), was tried to be recruited by another team then lured into playing for La Salle," said the source.

La Salle confirmed Wednesday that Mark Benitez and Tim Gatchalian used spurious Philippine Educational Placement Test Certificates (PEPTCRs) to gain varsity eligibility in the UAAP and named team statistician Raul Lacson as the one responsible for securing the cagers’ fake documents.

"It’s an insult to our intelligence. It’s hard to believe that the statistician was the only one who worked on those papers," the source said.

Former assistant team manager Manny Salgado was also identified as possibly the other person with prior knowledge as to how the spurious documents of the players had been obtained, according to the report of La Salle’s fact-finding committee. Both Lacson and Salgado denied knowledge of the scam.

The source, though, said they’re sure a number of top team personalities were involved or had prior knowledge of the scam.

He said a top La Salle official even went to their house to coach them on what to say in the hearing.

Meanwhile, La Salle has more than a week to continue with its investigation and try to convince the UAAP board why no sanctions should be leveled on the Green Archers.

La Salle the other day bared initial results of its investigation on the case regarding two ineligible players who played for the team the last couple of years.

But during the press conference held at the Hyatt Hotel, it seems that more questions than answers were raised, mainly because it hardly offered anything new.

"Definitely madaming kulang. Incomplete. And if those are the results, I’m not satisfied," said Ricky Palou, head of the UAAP technical committee.

"So if the La Salle report is what already came out of the newspapers, then the UAAP board might consider investigating the case," he added.

Palou, who comes from Ateneo, said La Salle would have to dig deeper into the case and come up with better findings before the UAAP board convenes on Nov. 7.

"The board will definitely discuss the La Salle report. Then we will know if it will be the same one, which they read during the press conference or a new one," he said.

Once the board conducts its own investigation, it may be inclined later on to go through a vote on whether La Salle should be banned for the next season.

"But we will have to investigate before making any drastic actions. We have to be right and proper," said Palou.

Bren Perez, the board representative from UE, echoed Palou’s observations and said it is most likely that the board will have to look into the matter.

Anton Montinola of newly-crowned champion FEU, on the other hand, said it’s now a "common sentiment" that the La Salle investigation was incomplete.

"But La Salle said they’re not yet through so they will have to continue. It’s a serious matter that we should be patient with," he said.