𝐔𝐒𝐞𝐏 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐩 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐒 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑; 𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐍𝐒𝐂𝐔𝐀𝐀 𝐛𝐢𝐝
The University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP) will opt out of the sports events of the Mindanao Association of State Tertiary Schools (MASTS) 2023 to allot its budget for the Regional and National State Colleges and Universities Athletic Association (SCUAA) as confirmed by the USeP – Office of Students Affairs Services (OSAS) Director, Mr. Jose Alther Rivera.
“For now, ang USeP nakafocus ta sa atung preparation and participation, dili siya sa MASTS, kundi sa Regional [Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges] XI … so considering sa limitation sa atung budget, dili gyud natu maapilan tanan”, said Rivera.
The university wants to ensure that there are enough resources for its representatives for the regional selection and the possible student-athletes that will qualify for the national SCUAA.
Rivera emphasized that the roughly Php 500,000 budget left for the Sports Unit of OSAS will not be sufficient if the university insists to join MASTS and the SCUAA, consecutively.
Moreover, aside from the budget constraint, time for preparation is also considered since the final submission of documents for the qualifiers for NSCUAA is already on September 15, and Region 11 has yet to conduct its selection process.
“Compared to other [regions], kita nalang sa Mindanao area ang wala pa naka regional [selection], the rest of the regions is naka human na sila. Kato pa silang February ata”.
With this, Rivera is hopeful that the budget for the sports program in the university will increase in the next academic year, so that there will be no need for the institution to sacrifice an event intended for students’ exposure and improvement.
Written by: Gryzl Valerie B. Maturan
