PhilCycling and the Philippines Olympic Committee slammed University of the East for not allowing ace cyclist Marella Salamat to join Team Pilipinas in the 2018 Asian Games.
“The decision of the UE College of Dentistry not to allow cyclist Marella Salamat to take a leave of absence is deplorable,” said POC president Ricky Vargas in a statement.
However, the 24-year-old dentistry student, who won gold in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, begs to disagree.
“I don’t think denied is the right term,” she said in a Facebook message.
According to Salamat, she has already exhausted all her leaves from school.
“I went back to school to finish my dentistry course under UE last October, and upon entering, the dean [Rhodora Luciano] already rejected my request to get back. So she sent me to the Chancellor [Zosimo Pattad, PhD], and the Chancellor was the one who allowed me to continue my schooling under UE and to continue where I left of from my last LOA, which was in 2016,” the resident of Muntinlupa City disclosed.
“Upon enrolling again, the dean and I had an agreement that I won’t be requesting for any LOA again, as I had run out of leave of absences, given that in UE, a student is only allowed to have a maximum of two LOAs. I had three already.”
Salamat was one of the medal bets of the country for the continental meet in Indonesia. That is why the POC and PhilCycling made constant efforts to get her to the Games.
“Salamat is a medal potential who wanted to compete for flag and country. This puts in question the sense of nationalism of an educational institution which has been known for its long history of Filipino sports heroes,” lamented Vargas.
“We are disappointed with this decision.”
Salamat knew about this. However, if she had been allowed by the school to join the Asiad, she would be forced to return and repeat the entire dentistry curriculum.
“When I sent PSC’s letter to UE, they said it was okay for me to leave but if I do decide again to come back to UE Dentistry, i’d go back to first year, repeating the whole dentistry course for six years – considering the new curriculum of CHED with regards to K-12,” she shared.
Still at the peak of her powers, Salamat knows that she will be back stronger than ever after she graduates.
“Given these options, I decided to have my name removed from the list of delegates from the Asian Games, as I was left choosing the now and what I’ve been working for also for my future po, since I only have less than two more years lang naman po to finish until I graduate.”
With reports from POC-PSC release
