The Sanctions Ayo, UST Could Face for "Bubble" Trouble

There are a lot of uncertainties that the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers are facing on top of the uncertainties that the rest of the world is facing due to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

As the Growling Tigers await their fate after their "bubble" trouble in Sorsogon busted into what has become a dramatic turn of events that started when CJ Cansino was abruptly removed from the team due to what they refer to as "defiance of authority" which was followed by Cansino's transfer to the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons. And while fans of the Fighting Maroons will have to wait until Season 84 to get a glimpse of Cansino in a UP jersey, the Growling Tigers are in a wait-and-see game as the school is reported to have completed its internal investigation with the formal report already submitted to the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) last week. From there, the UAAP is set to meet with the Joint Administrative Order (JAO) Group. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has already joined the ongoing investigation with Chairman Prospero de Vera explaining "The commission wants to know: whose decision is this (holding the bubble training)? As far as CHED is concerned, those who are leading the university are the ones accountable"
Of course, the possibility of the concerned government agencies imposing the necessary sanctions on those deemed responsible for the "bubble" training is inevitable. One possible sanction that could be imposed is the suspension of Coach Aldin Ayo who steered the Growling Tigers to a runner-up finish in Season 82. There's also the chatter that Aldin Ayo won't be able to keep his job as the man who brought him to Espana in former Institute on Physical Education and Athletics (IPEA) Director Father Jannel Abogado OP has already stepped down from his post in light of the bubble controversy. Another possible sanction that UST could face is a one-season ban from the men's basketball tournament next season although the scenario of the entire school taking a leave of absence from the UAAP isn't impossible either. Whatever sanctions deemed right for the violations that have been committed, it will depend on the recommendations that the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases whom the CHED and the UAAP will submit the results of their investigations to.

While it will be unfair for other student-athletes of UST who have nothing to do with the Sorsogon trouble, it's not the first time that a one-season ban has been imposed upon a member school. 

Photo is from ESPN.com