A number of student-athletes from the UAAP’s member schools received vaccinations against COVID-19 as part of the ‘We Got Your Vac’ program of the MVP Group, in fulfillment of sports patron Manny Pangilinan’s promise to the league after it signed up with Cignal last year.
“It speaks a lot about the MVP Group as well as MVP himself, di ba? That’s why MVP is MVP.
“Nangako siya at that time. If I’m not mistaken, we’re referring to the presscon of the partnership. He said it on air I guess no,” commented UAAP Executive Director Rebo Saguisag as the vax program was held at the Meralco Compound in Pasig City.
“The figure then I think was 500 (individuals) and we’re not even sure kung para kanino siya pupunta, whether it was for the Board of Managing Directors, the UAAP officials, etc. But now that they said there were going to include student-athletes, dumami pa so 1000 (individuals) na ngayon and it speaks about the character of our partners and the man himself. He follows through,” he continued.
Originally, the idea was to distribute the doses towards athletes competing in the men’s basketball and women’s volleyball events since these are the cornerstones of the league’s potential return in February 2022 within a bubble setup and have professional leagues that have been running amidst the pandemic like the PBA and PVL.
This was then scratched as some of these players have already gotten their shots amidst the private and public sectors’ different vaccination drives. The MVP Group then said to the league that the shots will still be given despite the new development.
“We gave I think 110 para 880 student-athletes and then 120 reserved for those officials who will be running the tournament. Yung 110 per school, initially the idea was for men’s basketball and women’s volleyball but again it’s not as if kung hindi pumunta dun, babawiin nila,” explained the amiable law practitioner.
“The 120 will actually cover everyone but that’s a very lean skeletal workforce. I don’t know whether the media will be allowed so that’s something worth studying. But yeah, it’s a very, very lean para patakbuhin (ang liga). The organizers and the officials, of course, the statisticians, everyone needed, in short, to run the show.”
With the gradual resumption of face-to-face classes for tertiary institutions as mandated by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Health (DOH) alongside the incoming vaccine deliveries, optimistically speaking, the UAAP is inching towards a return next year with the best possible situation being that it can hold all of its 16 events.
Now that numerous studies show effective vaccines are in stopping the transmission of COVID-19 and saving people from experiencing severe symptoms and death, Saguisag hopes that more and more stakeholders and student-athletes from the league will get their shots. That way, tournaments can go on while everyone will remain safe from the dreaded virus.
“If I am not mistaken pala, if you study history, ito sports na, even education, you cannot attend school without having a measles shot in you remember in the history of the world. So pati yung right to education is not naman being curtailed but it gives way to a higher interest which is public health,” said the Makati City councilor.
“Kung gusto natin matuloy ito, mag-vaccine.”
Ultimately, Saguisag is appealing to everyone who wishes for the UAAP to resume to get their jabs not just because they want the league to push through again after its longest hiatus since World War 2 but because it is the best possible way to protect one’s self and the people that surrounds them.
“Yun lang naman yun and I’m sure hot topic sa NBA ngayon, one of the more popular players mukhang tatamaan (but) it is what it is. Professional nga yun, ito pribilehiyo. I know how important it is but we have to consider the greater public interest… Yes, you have your right not to get vaccinated but your right ends when the right of others begins.”
