THE ATHENA’S cup, one of the Faculty of Arts and Letters’ (AB) most-anticipated annual sports events, has been postponed due to overlapping venue reservations with the UST Junior High School (JHS).
The SIKLAB: Athena’s Cup 2026, a series of various sports competitions among AB departments that were supposed to take place from Feb. 13 to 21, will be rescheduled to later dates, the Artlets Student Council (ABSC) said.
ABSC Secretary Franz Rickhayle Salangsang, who is responsible for the venue arrangements of faculty-wide events, expressed regret over the situation.
The ABSC started making venue reservations in January, while its sports and wellness committee began preparations back in November.
According to Salangsang, the council was told that certain venues, such as the Central Seminary Gym, could not be reserved through letters and must instead be booked through the University’s Electronic Record of Scheduled Events and Reservation of Venues (E-Reserve).
After the ABSC’s booking for the Central Seminary Gym was rejected in January, Salangsang encoded the P. Noval Court and the Quadricentennial Pavilion (QPAV) practice gyms in the E-Reserve for all the Athena’s Cup events.
However, the council later found that the JHS’s booking request for the same dates had already been approved.
Salangsang said they had been told that letters are required in addition to registration in the E-Reserve, which they have yet to submit.
She insisted that the court and the venues at QPAV were already booked in the E-Reserve system under ABSC’s name, adding that it should not have been secured by the JHS even if their request had not been “fully approved.”
“Why did they (JHS) reserve it, considering that the venue is already ours…Even if we say it’s not fully approved yet, the only reason why it’s not fully approved is that there have been frequent changes in our program flow,” Salangsang said.
“So our program flow will be favorable to everyone, and we can maximize the venues, but again, in technicalities of the E-Reserve, even though it has not been fully approved, the venue should still be ours.”
The ABSC official said the council made every effort to secure courts for the Athena’s Cup to honor the program societies’ commitment to allocate funds and prevent inconvenience for many participants who were “enthusiastic to join” the annual event.
Lengthy discussions with the JHS officials were also held to address the overlapping venue reservations at the Office of the Secretary General.
“There were hints of hostility towards us [and they] never said that they had also reserved the P. Noval Court as well as the practice gym for the same dates I had already booked,” Salangsang said.
The Flame has reached out to the UST JHS administration, but it has yet to receive a response as of writing.
Transparency
The issue drew the attention of the AB Board of Majors (BOM), composed of executive heads from all societies within the faculty, who weighed in on the council’s handling of the situation.
Fourth-year student Nomer Tomas Jatico, president of the Political Science Forum and BOM representative, believes the situation was “out of the council’s control. However, he said the ABSC’s main shortcoming was its lack of communication regarding the postponement.
“Student leaders must be transparent and accountable. Every [Artlets student] has the right to know what happened to an event they were looking forward to,” Jatico told The Flame.
As of writing, there has been no official announcement made by the ABSC regarding the postponement of the Athena’s Cup.
Christian Ricafort, head of the Artlets Economic Society’s sports committee, also voiced his dismay, noting the extensive and early planning made for the event.
“As a society, we had been preparing for the Athena’s Cup as early as December, and the excitement that came with it made the postponement more disheartening,” he said.
Multiple overlaps?
According to Salangsang, the council’s week-long celebration of the faculty’s 130th founding anniversary saw multiple setbacks with venue bookings.
This year’s newly launched program, “MULATverse: The Artlets Experience Show,” was another event affected by a scheduling conflict with the UST JHS. The opening program, originally set for the Benavides Auditorium, was later moved to the Quadricentennial Park (QPark). The abrupt change caused hours-long delay in the program.
Salangsang said the ABSC respected the sudden change and acknowledged the JHS department’s authority over the venue since it was in its building. She shared that a week-long activity also held at QPark, the “ABazaar 2026: Artlets for All, All for Artlets,” was almost canceled after the area was booked for another JHS event.
According to Salangsang, the ABSC was not informed of any prior booking when it secured the venue. She said the council later discovered that the JHS had also submitted a reservation, after theirs was auto-cancelled by the E-Reserve system.
“We were able to resolve the matter, thankfully. What happened was we shared [the QPark] with [the] Junior High [School] for Feb. 11,” she said.
“I admit I felt the situation was somewhat unfair. I had no choice because it became super unfavorable at the end of [the] ABSC as we were no longer able to secure the QPark for [its] whole area [and] for the whole week, [which] was supposed to be reserved for [us],” she added.
Rescheduling plans
According to ABSC sports committee director Fran Abendan, the council is now exploring alternative schedules for the event, such as possibly moving the games to weekends.
While Saturdays remain a viable option, Abendan said Sunday games are unlikely to be approved by the AB administration, as it does not allow events to be held when offices are closed.
Abendan added that the ABSC is also considering rescheduling the tournament in April, as a later date would make it “easier” to secure reservations and prevent clashes with other events.
“There will be more [vacant] venues for us and it will be less hassle since it can reduce conflicts with any administration on the reservation of venues,” the Political Science senior said.
Abendan assured participating players, especially seniors, that the new dates would accommodate all Artlets and avoid conflicts with their preliminary and early final examinations, thesis deadlines and graduation activities.
“We will not clash it (Athena’s Cup) with those major events that are already set in stone for AB.”
AB week concluded with a concert headlined by OPM bands and student performances at the UST Grandstand on Feb. 14. F — with reports from Joss Gabriel Oliveros and Veancy Palad
Editor’s Note: The Flame has changed the exclusive quotes from ABSC Secretary Franz Rickhayle Salangsang to clarify that it came from her meeting with the Faculty’s sports committee heads, which The Flame has learned.
