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UE alumni blast 'unfair treatment' of suspended players

UE Warriors warm up before their game against the FEU Tamaraws on August 25, 2013. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)

The University of the East’s alumni association has come to the aid of its beleaguered men’s basketball team.
 
In a three-page letter sent to Yahoo! Philippines Tuesday, University of the East Alumni Association Inc. (UEAAI) called the attention of the UAAP Board and league commissioner Chito Loyzaga for “justice, fairness and due process” for its suspended players, prized center Charles Mammie and wingman Ralf Olivares, who were both hit with two-game suspensions.

UEAAI called the bans on Mammie and Casajeros “instances of unfair treatment towards the members of the UE Red Warriors-Men’s Basketball Team across the ongoing UAAP 76 men’s basketball tournament.”

According to UEAAI, Mammie was “unceremoniously slapped with a two-game suspension” by Loyzaga, who insisted the Sierra Leone native “had intention to hurt” Far Eastern U star Terrence Romeo in the course of the Tamaraws’ 98-94 double overtime win last August 25.

“Even though the alleged offense was never called by any of the game’s referees—one of whom was at the very scene of the supposed infraction—the UAAP Commissioner, reportedly after reviewing 'by himself' the game on video, deemed it as deserving of a penalty. And just like that, without giving the parties involved the benefit of due process and, apparently, without consulting the UAAP Board’s own Technical Committee, the Commissioner went ahead and meted a two-game suspension upon Mr. Mammie,” the UEAAI stated.

The group likewise called for “due process” on Olivares, who was assessed a technical foul and an unsportsmanlike foul in UE’s 73-81 loss against National U last Saturday.

RELATED: Another Warrior banned as Olivares draws two-game suspension

“While Mr. Olivares’ technical fouls and unsportsmanlike behavior in the team’s August 31, 2013, were actually called during the game, and while his actions are not inarguable, we respectfully deem it unjust that the young man was dealt by the Commissioner with his own two-game suspension sans the benefit of due process,” the UEAAI stated.

Both Mammie and Olivares will be out on Wednesday when UE, running at sixth with a 5-5 mark, tries to arrest a two-game losing skid and keep its Final Four hopes alive against streaking La Salle at 4 o’clock at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

Up in arms, the alumni association also blasted the way the league handles the case of other schools’ players.

“Adding insult to injury is the highly visible fact that such supposed offenses by UE players have likewise been committed by members of a number of other UAAP member-schools’ players, yet those other schools’ own offenders either have had much lighter penalties or none at all.”

The group, though, did not mention the names of any of these other players or schools.

Aside from its effects on the court, UEAAI also added the suspensions on UE’s players will affect the image of the school’s community.

“By extension, those suspensions also impact on the athletes’ own fellow UE students and, even further, to UE’s workforce — officialdom, faculty members and other personnel — and, much further, to the university’s numerous alumni,” stated the group.