DLSU to endorse case to authorities

La Salle yesterday said it would endorse the findings of its four-man panel to the appropriate government agency, like the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), to prosecute those who may be found to be criminally liable in the player eligibility scam that rocked the school.

At the same time, school officials have taken steps to effect changes in the school’s sports policies and personnel, including the composition of the coaching staff, according to the letter by La Salle executive vice president Dr. Carmelita Quebengco to the academic community.

The move could pave the way for the revamp or ouster of the entire coaching staff, headed by Franz Pumaren.

The school also tried to surrender the 2004 UAAP men’s senior basketball trophy to the UAAP as per its promise when it discovered the presence of one, later two, academically ineligible players — Mark Benitez and Tim Gatchalian — in the team the last two years.

The 2004 crown was actually delivered to UAAP president Fr. Max Rendon’s office at Adamson yesterday but since the school is on a semestral break, the trophy will be returned on Monday.

The decision to return the trophy was one of the three salient points contained in the Quebengco letter. She also instructed the school’s legal counsel to seek the assistance of the appropriate investigative agency to prosecute those who may be found to be criminally liable to the falsification of the PEP (Philippine Educational Placement) test results of the two players.

With no police power and authority to summon private citizens, much less mete out penalties, the La Salle fact-finding board could only come up with an initial finding wherein it named Raul Lacson, a contractual statistician of the team, as the one responsible for securing the player’s spurious documents.

It also tagged former assistant team manager Manny Salgado as possibly the other person with prior knowledge as to how the faked documents were obtained.

Both Lacson and Salgado denied the allegations.

The general sentiment of the public, however, including some La Salle alumni, was that the panel had failed to address the issue of culpability while others said it yielded more questions than answers.

La Salle said it was just an initial finding even as it stressed that it remained committed to ferret out the truth and punish those responsible for the mess.

Another development was the convening of a new committee different to the ad-hoc, fact-finding panel, wherein it discussed the possible changes in the school’s sports policies and personnel, including the sports officials and its coaching staff.