Last November 4, 2015, as some members of the Ateneo Blue Eagles squad were packing up to leave the Smart Araneta Coliseum after a game against the UP Fighting Maroons, uniformed and civilian members of the Quezon City Police District arrived at the said venue to question Nigerian student-athlete Chibueze Ikeh.
After two hours of questioning, Ikeh and an unidentified woman rode a private vehicle as Ikeh was invited to go to Camp Karingal, the QCPD Headquarters. According to reports, the foreign student-athlete was slapped with a case involving RA 9262 – Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act. Ikeh was only able to post bail early Thursday morning and had to spend the entire night in the station.
A lot of questions were raised about the private incident involving Ateneo’s FSA including who the complainant is, the timing of the incident, the repercusions of it, among others.
According to a source that has been closely monitoring the incident before it escalated last night, the complainant is a foreigner from Guam. The source describes her as a middle-aged woman, around late 40’s to mid 50’s, and is known among the basketball circles, both collegiate and professional basketball. She has gone back and forth from Guam and the Philippines for quite some time to watch the games and is known by a handful of local players.
Ikeh, who was 19 years old at the time, and the Guamanian met a year ago during the student-athlete’s residency stint with Ateneo Basketball’s Team B. The two became close but the relationship never went beyond normal friendship according to Ikeh’s confession to the source. The relationship between the two then grew sour said the source but Ikeh made it clear to the source that she was never his girlfriend.
The source added that later on the Guamanian wanted to reconcile with the young Nigerian multiple times but were denied. Then, early this year, she confronted Ikeh in his dormitory at the Ateneo campus the source recalled. The source described the confrontation as “scandalous” since a lot of Ateneo dormers witnessed the shouting match between the two. The source added that she wanted Ikeh to return the cellular phone she gave Ikeh as a present. Ikeh though dropped the cellular device to the ground the source claimed resulting to the Guamanian to storm off.
A few months later, it was alleged that she returned to claim money she had wire-transferred to the foreign student-athlete but were never withdrawn by Ikeh as documents showed to Tiebreaker Times by the source. The Guam national then filed a “school” case for “immoral conduct” against Ikeh but was dismissed due to lack of merits. In addition, it was not stated in the statement that Ikeh made physical contact towards her. The source also stated that the two personalities involved continued to exchange “harsh” messages afterwards.
Fast forward to a few months later, last night occurred. A subpoena was sent early October according to the source but due to a technicality (wrong name) was ignored. According to a lawyer, it is still within the law to send a warrant even if the subject fails to receive the subpoena. Furthermore, it is in the QCPD’s power to make an arrest at the Smart Araneta Coliseum since it is highly probable that he is present in the said venue and it is within their jurisdiction. Moreover, the fiscal has found probable cause to move past the prelimary investigation according to the lawyer. This resulted to Ikeh and his camp posting a bail of Php 24,000 early Thursday morning.
The lawyer then added that when it comes to criminal laws, the Philippines follows the rule that if committed within our territory, then it falls within our jurisdiction. Regardless of nationality, if a violation of RA 9262 was committed in the Philippines, then the foreigner can be tried and be held liable here.
More details about this highly sensitive case to follow.
