Pumaren resigns

Franz Pumaren has resigned as coach of the De La Salle basketball team, bringing to five the number of school and team officials who had quit their posts in the aftermath of the UAAP eligibility scam.

Highly-placed sources told The STAR last night that Pumaren resigned after a one-hour meeting with La Salle president Bro. Armin Luistro last Monday. The team left for Hawaii for a series of goodwill games the following day.

Pumaren, architect of La Salle’s five cage titles in eight years at the helm, has quit his post after piloting La Salle to the 2004 UAAP crown but was prevailed upon to stay on for three more years.

Pumaren and his coaching staff are under pressure from the La Salle community and alumni who have reportedly called for their resignation for the ineligibility mess that dragged down the institution.

The embattled mentor, however, denied any wrongdoing.

Earlier, team manager Terry Capistrano, Bro. Bobby Casingal, La Salle sports development director, Danny Jose, sports development director for internal affairs, and university registrar Edwin Santiago also resigned to give the administration a free hand to institute reforms.

No details of Pumaren’s resignation was made available but the same sources said La Salle will act on it, including those of the four others, upon the arrival of DLSU executive vice president Dr. Carmelita Quebengco from Rome next week.

Pumaren and the Archers are also expected to be back on Nov. 15.

Although he was not mentioned in the report of the school’s fact-finding body, many sectors felt that Pumaren, as coach, might have had knowledge of how two of his players — Mark Benitez and Tim Gatchalian — were able to secure spurious documents to be able to enter La Salle.

The report only named Raul Lacson, a contractual statistician, as the one who furnished the players the PEP test certificates while tagging former assistant team manager Manny Salgado as the other person who may have had knowledge of how the faked documents were acquired. Both Lacson and Salgado denied the allegations.

Expectedly, the UAAP board, in a meeting last Wednesday, found the report incomplete and ordered a thorough investigation of the case by putting up its own five-man committee to get into the bottom of the scandal that has not only rocked the school but the entire league as well.