The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has completed its fact-finding report on the alleged violations on the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and CHED advisories by the National University (NU) and University of Santo Tomas (UST) and has submitted the same to the IATF, particularly to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for proper action.
“As far as violations of CHED advisories are concerned, show cause orders will be issued to NU and UST requiring them to explain why sanctions should not be imposed on its officers, teaching, and non-teaching personnel for its failure to comply with the guidelines of CHED,” said CHED Chairman J. Prospero De Vera III.
The IATF, through Resolution 68 on September 3, 2020, will now allow student-athletes of collegiate athletic associations as defined under Republic Act No. 10676 or the Student-Athlete Protection Act to resume their preparatory training in areas under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) and Modified General Community Quarantine, (MGCQ) subject to the guidelines set by CHED.
CHED will organize a Technical Working Group (TWG) composed of CHED, Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Department of Health (DOH), Games and Amusement Board (GAB), and representatives of collegiate leagues to craft the guidelines.
“This new IATF resolution, allowing collegiate students to train, tasks CHED with the responsibility to formulate the guidelines.”
“This new IATF resolution, allowing collegiate students to train, tasks CHED with the responsibility to formulate the guidelines. We will use a whole of nation approach and benefit from the expertise of the PSC, DOH, GAB and the various leagues that have members schools, like the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), State Colleges and Universities Athletic Association (SCUAA), and Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA), incorporate learnings from the UST and NU cases,” De Vera said.
The higher education chief clarified that the allowing of collegiate training does not mean that there will be face-to-face classes.
“This is just to allow the collegiate athletes to train so their mental health and physical well-being will be enhanced.”
“This is just to allow the collegiate athletes to train so their mental health and physical well-being will be enhanced,” the higher education head stressed.
The guidelines will incorporate applicable provisions of the PSC-GAB-DOH Joint Administrative Order No. 2020-0001 to make sure there is consistency with the guidelines being used by professional leagues that have been approved by the IATF.
“We will also listen and learn from the best practices of the professional leagues like the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), Chooks to Go 3X3, and the Philippine Football League (PFL) that are now doing supervised training. Many of the best practices of these leagues were taken from those used by international sports bodies. The inputs from the national sports associations will be taken through the PSC,” he added.
The PBA, Chooks to Go, and the PFL discussed their testing, contact tracing and facilities management practices in the media briefing via Zoom hosted by CHED, PSC, DOH, and the GAB recently.