After their painful loss to Blacklist International, Echo’s country manager, Mitch Liwanag, became emotional as she revealed that she had been receiving death threats, which had severely affected her mental well-being.
This all stemmed from the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) community’s demand to field star roamer Tristan “Yawi” Cabrera, after he was benched at the beginning of the season in favor of Jaypee “JayPee” Dela Cruz.
“I’ve been trying to be quiet for the whole season just to protect yung nga players ko and Yawi. Parang tinake ko lahat, yung bashing, okay lang. Pero, please spare my family and my child dun sa mga bashing. I’ve been receiving death threats. Parang, sasaktan daw nila ako sa venue and I’m trying to tell Jaypee na wag pansinin,” said an emotional Liwanag.
“Yun nga, parang kami yung most hated na tao sa community. But I understand, kahit ako naman, sinasabi ko kay Yawi lagi ‘Sobrang galing naman niya’. I have no doubts with him.”
Visibly affected by what transpired after the team’s roster decision, Liwanag further clarified that the decision to start JayPee over Yawi early in the season was a team decision.
The switch resulted from in-game miscommunications that initially surfaced during their MSC 2023 campaign and continued through their World Cyber Games 2023 campaign in Korea.
It was agreed, however, that if JayPee made mistakes during the regular season, he would be replaced by Yawi right away.
However, Echo went on to win 11 consecutive games, leaving no room for Yawi to step in.
“Lagi ko namang tina-try ayusin internally yung problem and I’m always telling them na kung ano ‘mang sabihin ng mga tao, ako na yung sasalo. However, ang nangyari ako yung sumalio, saka si dad or si Jaypee. Pero it’s okay, wala naman sakin yun pero yun lang talaga na parang umabot kami ng regular season, we have to decide kung sino yung lalaro. So it was actually a majority decision and then doon nag-start na nagkaroon ng tampuhan,” Liwanag further explained.
Caught between Yawi and the other players, Liwanag found herself in a difficult situation, and it didn’t help that she served as the team’s shield against the bashing from fans.
“I understand Yawi’s side, I also understand the majority side. So, the coaches and I we actually talked and decided sige, once na nagkamali si Jaypee, since siya yung boto ng majority, ibabangko natin siya if nagkamali siya. However, nagkaroon ng 11 win streak and the coaches and players decided na ayaw nilang maputol yung momentum,” she said on why Yawi only made his appearance during the final week of the regular season.
“Si Yawi, naiintindihan ko yung nararamdaman niya. It’s very valid kasi wala naman ding problema sa laro niya, it’s just the communication. Then, every week naguusap kami, and I know pati sakin malaki tampo niya pero I’m trying to fix everything internally. Sinasalo ko lahat.”
