MANILA – The University of Perpetual Help System DALTA denied claims that it is disbanding its sports program due to the effects brought by coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in the country.
Dr. Alfonso Loreto, director for the Las Piñas campus, said the sports teams will not bid goodbye as student-athletes are well taken care of.
“Almost all of our athletes were able to go home, except for the 60 to 70 who are left behind. We still take care and give allowance, food, board and lodging to those who remained,” Loreto said in an interview with Spin.ph.
He added: “There’s also a strict implementation of guidelines na meron silang matron na twice a day and we check their temperatures and health situation. Kung may kailangan sila, di namin sila pinapalabas.”
According to Loreto, the stranded athletes are set to return to their respective homes in the coming days.
“The (remaining) athletes would like to go home. We’re helping them with their medical certificates and with their transport to the airport. The others, we’ll also help them in processing their tickets,” he said.
Student-athletes of the school were able to receive their allowances in the past months while they were confined in the campus, Loreto claimed. Their scholarships were also not abandoned,
“We gave them allowances when they were on campus. (Pero) dahil wala sila dito ngayon, hindi natin pinapadala ‘yun sa kanila. Pero pagbalik nila dito, definitely we’ll give them those allowances again,” he said.
“Tuloy-tuloy ang scholarship at pababalikin namin sila pag ‘yung situwayon natin naging normal na at meron na tayong scheduled date for the return of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association),” Loreto added.
“As long as the university is here, we’ll always be an NCAA member,” he further said. “We’ll continue developing our athletes even during this time. And rest assured the university will not put their backs away from the athletes.”/PN
