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The UAAP has just started and so much off court drama has already come to fore.

The Commissioner of the UAAP revoked the one game suspension of UE player Paul Lee. In a memo dated July 7, Commissioner Andres “Chito� Narvasa, states that upon a review of the rule, the offense of trash talking and taunting that was slapped on Lee was not suppose to have resulted in a technical foul. In Section 11 of the UAAP Ground Rules, such infractions should have drawn a warning instead of a technical foul.

Paul Lee was hit with 2 technical fouls in UE’s first game of the season. Section 9 of the UAAP Ground Rules, state that “any player who gets 2 technical fouls in a game is automatically ejected.�

The memo further states that Section 10 of the same Ground Rules state: “A player ejected from the game shall serve an automatic one (1) game suspension on his/her next game. However the Tournament Commissioner may impose a more severe penalty depending on the gravity of the offense committed. Repetition of the same offense will mean the automatic disqualification from further participation in the tournament.�

Though it is clear that the Commissioner can impose a stiffer penalty, as of this writing, there a stipulation in the UAAP Ground Rules has not yet found that state that the Commissioner can overturn the ruling of the referee or lower the penalty of an infraction.

The memo further states that “Paul Lee’s trash talking and taunting shall remain in the Commissioner’s records of penalties against him for this year�. In addition, Referee Ferdinand Mañalac, who assessed the 2nd technical foul against Paul Lee was reprimanded for his erroneous call and has been warned that a similar mistake in the future will be dealt with more severity.

Though Mañalac was warned about a repetition of the offense, Paul Lee was not given any such warning in the memo.

In another memo from the UAAP Commissioner, the 3 referees of the La Salle – Ateneo game played on July 6, 2008, were suspended for one game for the following reasons:
1. Poor off-the-ball situations coverage resulting in unnecessary rough physical contact.
2. Poor control management of the game.
3. Poor communications services between the Commissioner and the coaches.

The 3 referees, Gerry Jimenez, Juner Bayais and Edwin Cañosa, will be excluded from the rotation selection for period July 7 to 13, 2008. The memo further states that all 3 will be subjected to a review and re-orientation.

Still hanging over the Commissioner’s office is the issue of the technical foul called on La Salle before the opening tip-off.
La Salle is going to send a letterto the UAAP Board of Directors regarding the matter. Br. Bernie Oca FSC, one of DLSU’s representatives to the board, has said that it is not a letter to protest the game.

For a while, it was unclear as to why the technical foul was called on La Salle because the game barker did not announce the reason on the public address system. However, it was learned that a member of the La Salle coaching staff was not wearing an ID and this led to the 2 shot penalty plus ball possession for the Blue Eagles.

La Salle is set to show a picture from inboundpass.com taken in the game of July 5, 2008 between UE and UST, where UST Coach Pido Jarencio is seen with no ID but was not assessed a penalty.

An irate Franz Pumaren has said “I can follow a rule if they apply it to all”. The Commissioner on the other hand said “it was a simple rule that was violated. It’s over. There wasn’t any effect on the game.”

Last season, when two foreign-born Ateneo players were on the court at the same time for a split second, La Salle’s protest was also turned down because of the “it did not affect the outcome of the game� reason.

Coach Norman Black also had his complaints after he was also given a technical foul in the same game for “disobeying the Commissioner’s orders.�

No ID and disobeying the Commissioner orders equal technical fouls. Trash talking and taunting the opposing player gets a warning. One referee given a warning and 3 others suspended. One weekend, four games and already so much controversy in the UAAP.

Tags: Ateneo-Blue-Eagles, Chito-Narvasa, De-La-Salle-Green-Archers, News, Paul-Lee, Petron, Pido-Jarencio, UAAP, UE-Red-Warriors, University-of-Sto.-Tomas-Growling-Tigers

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