“There was this nominee supposedly representing indigent student athletes,” Brillantes said. “I told him, you don’t look like an indigent. You don’t look like a student, and you don’t look like an athlete, either. So why are you the number 1 nominee?” This is from a national broadsheet (PDI, Sept 28, 2012), titled, Comelec chair: Party-list system a joke.
I immediately recognized whom Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes was referring to. But just to make sure, I logged in the Comelec website, and sure enough, in the list of registered partylists that filed manifestations of Intent to Participate in the May 13 elections, under “First People Representative for Indigent Student Athletes” (1stPRISA), the nominees are: Emmanuel Y. Angeles, Victor V. Perez, Elbert C. Atilano, Laureano C. Santos and Jeffrey T. Jervoso.
This brings to mind the “Boycott PRISAA” campaign that Foundation University initiated last year. Here’s an excerpt from my column dated Jan 30, 2011: “A planned boycott of the Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA) national games initiated by Foundation University President Dr. Mira D. Sinco through a manifesto sent out to heads of 73 institutions of higher learning seeking their support is strengthened by developments in the education and sports communities in this University Town and in other parts of the country.
“Locally, the first to profess support was NORSU President Dr. Henry Sojor. This is significant because the PRISAA chairperson “for life” and former CHED chairperson Dr. Manny Angeles wants to integrate the State Colleges & University Athletic Association (SCUAA) into what he is marketing and promoting as a ‘National Collegiate Games.’
“It is believed that this is a ploy of Angeles to create a mass-based support for a party-list he calls A Party Representing Indigent Student Athletes (APRISA) which he fielded in the last elections, with his son as the first nominee-representative. Interestingly, APRISA garnered some 25,000 votes, but not enough to send his son to Congress.
“When FU decided to spearhead the boycott, we were not aware that Atty. Remeliza ‘Peachy’ Alfelor Moraleda, president of the University of Northeastern Philippines and granddaughter of the late Camarines Sur Gov. Felix O. Alfelor Sr., blogged as early as 2009, and prior to the national elections, her concern, thus: ‘Apparently, the PRISAA national organization has transformed itself into a party-list organization calling itself First PRISA. I don’t know how this happened… suffice it to say that whatever is happening, the guys behind First PRISA are using the PRISAA to build a network of members throughout the country…there is no doubt the people they have listed as their regional representatives are the same regional presidents of the local PRISAA…Right now, we—along with several other members schools—are thinking of withdrawing our membership from PRISAA, lest we be used for the political interest of others without our knowledge or consent.’”
With elections just around the corner, we urge our colleagues in higher education to protect their sports programs from becoming a part of a sports joke—the 1st PRISA.
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