The Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-MEID) is not taking reports of the University of Santo Tomas’ (UST) violation of the protocols against the coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) lightly.

With the Department of Health (DoH), Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Games and Amusement Board (GAB) and Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) on board, the IATF on Tuesday launched an inquiry on the supposed breach committed by the UST men’s basketball team.

The players and their coaches were found to have traveled to head coach Aldin Ayo’s hometown in Capuy, Sorsogon for an unauthorized training camp.

The IATF has repeatedly issued reminders that the non-essential movement of people and goods between borders are not allowed while the whole country is under community quarantine.

Sorsogon is one of the provinces where modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) is imposed. It is the least strict of the quarantine classifications.

Under the IATF’s omnibus guidelines, movie screenings, concerts, sporting events, religious gatherings and work conferences are now allowed at a 50 percent seating or venue capacity in MGCQ areas.

Indoor and outdoor non-contact sports and other forms of exercise are also allowed but these are only limited to biking, golf, swimming, badminton, equestrian and skateboarding and only on the condition that minimum public health standards including wearing of masks and social distancing are observed. The sharing of equipment is not allowed.

While the IATF had greenlighted 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 basketball to resume, this only applies to the national team and Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) but not in the collegiate ranks like the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) in which UST is a member.The UST Growling Tigers’ trip outside Metro Manila, now infamously called the “Sorsogon bubble,” is viewed as a serious violation of government protocols, reason for the IATF’s creation of the multi-agency body. It launched an investigation through the Joint Administrative Order (JAO) 2020-0001 to look into the “bubble.”

Under the JAO, drafted by GAB with the DoH and PSC, only pro leagues in basketball, football and boxing are allowed to resume training under a general community quarantine or GCQ in conformity with the provisions of the said administrative order and other GAB requirements.

UST, being a part of the UAAP, is clearly not among those allowed to resume any sporting activity as it is not a professional team.

“The PSC will always push to uphold the issuance regarding sports and physical activity and we are happy that CHEd is a steady partner when it comes to sports in universities and colleges,” PSC National Training Director Marc Velasco said in yesterday’s inquiry, echoing CHEd chairman Prospero de Vera III’s stance that the safety of the students is the top concern of the agencies.

It was also during yesterday’s meeting that the IATF-created body tasked Ayo to appear before the panel on 1 September, along with UAAP Season 83 president Nonong Calanog of De La Salle and executive director Rebo Saguisag, before a final decision on his and UST’s fates is handed down.

But it’s not just the Sorsogon trip which commenced last June that UST has to answer for.

The UST top brass was also said to have been kept out of the loop regarding the trip.

A waiver addressed to Institute of Physical Education and Athletics director, Fr. Jannell Abogado, also surfaced online stating that parents and guardians of the players who “voluntarily” joined the training camp freed the university, its officials and team officials of liabilities.

Not long after, a screenshot of the alleged message sent out by one of the Tigers’ managers also went around showing that “more than P3M had already been spent” by the team benefactors.

The players who decided to return to Manila were also made to pay for their own travels.

The managers said they will no longer spend for their “travel expenses, plane tickets, coordination with airline companies, securing of travel documents, (and) coordination with the PNP and LGU.”

The same message stated that “the managers will cut the monthly allowance of the players in half during their absence” in Sorsogon.

Also, there’s the now deleted Twitter posts of erstwhile UST team captain CJ Cansino of apparent screenshots of a group chat where the players aired their concerns and worries to their parents while in Sorsogon.

One complaint was about the supposedly “unhealthy” food the players were served. These were different from Ayo’s. Some of them fell ill and were not given medical care.

A few team members are allegedly on “quarantine” for exhibiting “COVID-like symptoms.”

Neither Ayo nor any of the team officials has addressed the allegations. (Daily Tribune)