Dumaguete universities have announced their intention to boycott the Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA) national meet unless issues regarding its organizational legitimacy and leadership are resolved.
The Negros Oriental State University and Silliman University have decided to suspend their participation in the PRISAA after Foundation University led calls to boycott the national games over questions in PRISAA’s legitimacy and management.
But Mark Raygan Garcia, director for the Office of Information and Publications of Silliman University, said that they have not yet signed the manifesto, which he said was authored by the Foundation University, because they want to hear the side of the PRISAA officials first.
“We in the university have always believed that a sound decision could only be made if both sides of the story have been heard,” Garcia told reporters.
The manifesto is asking member schools to boycott the games slated Feb. 20 to 26 in Manila because it is questioning the management of the PRISAA. The meet, however, has been rescheduled to April 10 to 16 in Zamboanga City.
The manifesto further alleges that Prisaa national officials are using the association to promote personal and political agenda. It also questioned its election of officers calling for the exercise to be made democratic and transparent.
Silliman University said it “suspends participation in the PRISAA at this time until all issues relating to it have been satisfactorily resolved by competent national authorities, including the Commission on Higher Education (Ched).”
Foundation University (FU) president Dr. Mira Sinco and University of Northern Philippines (UNEP) president Peachy Alfelor Moraleda were the first leaders to come out in favor of a manifesto widely circulated among Prisaa member-schools nationwide, demanding reforms in the association long ruled by its long-standing chairman Emmanuel Angeles of the Angeles University Foundation (AUF).
Moraleda’s grandfather, Felix Alfelor Sr., a former governor of Camarines Sur, onced served the Prisaa as its chairman.
Sinco’s husband was also a one-time chairman of the national Prisaa board.
They are now calling on Prisaa members to “take all necessary and direct action, dictated by their respective conscience and motives to support a full boycott of the national games organized by the current Prisaa scheduled in February 2011, and all subsequent activities of the Prisaam until such time that the sentiments, concerns and issues urgently expressed… are adequately and completely addressed by those concerned, manifesting commitment and actions for change.”
The manifesto seeks from the current leadership to institute “drastic and urgent reforms in, a.) election of national, regional and local officials; b.) transparency in the conduct of affairs of the association; c.) accountability in fiscal management; and d.) clarity of the Prisaa’s mission and vision.
The group led by the two women also hit Angeles, questioning the “legality and appropriateness of a provision in the Prisaa handbook, which states: the position of the chairman is not subject to election… (he) shall serve as long as he wants to.” They said such a provision could not be found in the by-laws of other leagues, particularly the more successful ones like the UAAP, NCAA, SCUAA and the Unigames.