By: Jan Marcus Montevirgen
In a now-deleted Facebook post, Julius “Banoobs” Mariano accused Aurora’s Renejay “Renejay” Barcase, Dexter “Dex Star” Alaba, Aniel “Master the Basics” Jiandani, and their General Manager, Elrasec “Rada” Ocampo, of player collusion.
Banoobs’ comment, which was made in response to a post by Renejay, read: “Wala pala akong karapatan, eh sa birthday mo mismo, Renejay Barcarse, nagtulong-tulong kayo sa pagpaplano nila Rada, Scars, Dexstar, Louise Cruz, Alaba, at MTB para pumirata kay Dominic Delmundo. Wala akong karapatan non? Eh, illegal ang poaching, baka hindi mo alam, boi? Na-realize ko rin kaya ayaw na niyang lumaro sa Sibol at ESL.”
Initially, Banoobs’ post was intended to showcase sportsmanship. He had congratulated Aurora for their impressive performance against Blacklist International on the opening day of MPL Philippines Season 14.
However, tensions escalated when Banoobs discovered Renejay’s comments regarding the potential return of former Blacklist players and coaches. He then spoke about this during the MPL Philippines Kick-Off Press Conference on August 9, suggesting that although reconciliation was possible, Blacklist International was focused on moving forward.
Banoobs expressed a firm stance: “For us, me personally, no. Kase what we start, is we’ve been through the process. We’ve been hurt. We’ve been healed. And now we’re ready to war. So there’s no turning back on this. Lalaban kami kung lalaban pero if there’s an opportunity na babalik, the door is not yet closed pero parang ex yan eh. Babalikan mo ba?”
Renejay responded during the post-match conference last Friday, asserting that Banoobs had no grounds for being hurt. He clarified that Banoobs was not part of the team during that period, and emphasized that Blacklist International’s CEO, Tryke Gutierrez, had assured them that the door was always open for a return.
“Siguro sa akin muna, hindi ko pa nakakasama si Banoobs. So hindi ko po talaga siya kilala. So kung nasaktan man po siya, walang siyang karapatan masaktan kase hindi naman po siya yung kasama namin noong time na ‘yon. And yung CEO po namin na noon na si Boss Tryke, nag-usap po kami and sabi niya sa akin, laging bukas ang pinto para sa amin. So ‘don po ako mas kumukuha ng lakas ng loob, hindi sa kanya (Banoobs),” Renejay responded, further fueling the ongoing controversy.
