THE AB Board of Majors (AB BOM) has urged the Artlets Student Council (ABSC) to take accountability for its lapses in relaying the changes for this year’s Athena’s Cup sports tournament, which has seen multiple postponements.
In a statement released on March 23, the board called on the council to be transparent to the Artlets student body about the adjustments made to the events.
“It is time for the council to stop relying on the societies to implement transparency measures for the student body, as the student body is counting on the leaders they have elected, and they owe it to them to explain what is happening,” the statement read.
The SIKLAB: Athena’s Cup 2026, a sports competition of the Faculty of Arts and Letters (AB) usually held during its anniversary in February, has been pushed back to April. While the first few games were rescheduled to March due to venue booking issues, the remaining sports events were moved to later dates to make way for the preliminary examinations.
The repeated adjustments disrupted schedules for both organizers and student-athletes, fueling calls for greater transparency and accountability from the council.
READ: ABSC postpones Athena’s Cup after venue reservation issues with UST JHS
The initial postponement was not publicly announced by the student council and was instead disseminated to athletes through online group chats with the AB BOM, which is composed of the program society heads, and their sports representatives.
The ABSC only made its first public announcement about the changes to the Athena’s cup, initially set to run from Feb. 7 to Feb. 21, on Feb. 28 in a Facebook post with a calendar of the rescheduled activities from March 2 to 14.
Internal dissemination
In an interview with The Flame on March 1, an ABSC official said the student government had opted to release updates internally first to ensure that announcements would already have final schedules.
“As a PRO, one of my biggest challenges was to explain what was happening to the Artlets community while still being careful about offices or third parties that might be involved,” ABSC public relations officer (PRO) King Daniele Manlapaz said.
“Once we make a public announcement, we want the rescheduled dates for the Athena’s Cup to be final, including its duration,” he added.
However, Manlapaz admitted the approach was “ineffective” in reaching the wider Artlets community.
“We first reached out to them (AB BOM and sports representatives) in internally disseminating the information because they were the first to understand the challenges we encountered that time, and that they would help us communicate those challenges,” he said.
“But I could say it was ineffective since the internal dissemination is through group chats, there were different translations to the messages that others received. The games being rescheduled was not emphasized in some [messages].”
The AB BOM criticized how the ABSC had handled the issue, saying “there is no accountability on the Council when the postponement was being made.” It added that the ABSC should announce the problem surrounding the Athena’s Cup as the “governing body to the Artlets and as the project head of the said event.”
Recurring issues flagged
The AB BOM also questioned the council’s management of the game schedules and their implementation, citing a lack of staff, proper officiating officers and sports equipment that contributed to delays.
Literature Society sports representative Michaella Alhexa Balog said repeated postponements had disrupted athletes’ preparation.
“My players responded with frustration, knowing that this is not the first time we have encountered postponements in this tournament,” Balog told The Flame.
Legal Management Society sports representative Reign Cassandra Escalante pointed to venue coordination issues and possible conflict of interest among line judges. According to Escalante, athletes sometimes arrived at venues only to be told games would not proceed.
“Our athletes are already there… then they are told ‘sorry… someone else is using the court,’” Escalante said.
“I know that they are really doing their best… but there are unavoidable issues, such as with the venue and the [Electronic Reservation of Scheduled Events and Reservation of Venue] e-ReSERVe.”
She also raised concerns over officiating, noting that some line judges were affiliated with a competing program.
“At the [very] least, if someone from ABSC is assigned to check the games, [they should be from a] different program…. Of course [it would be] a conflict of interest,” she said.
This created doubts among players and spectators regarding fairness, Escalante added.
Manpower shortage
Manlapaz, also the officer-in-charge of the sports committee, found the lack of manpower in the student council challenging, adding that the 10 members of the committee who ran the processes of the games were “multitasking.”
“The sports committee was supposed to be designated to the technicalities of the Athena’s Cup, like in scoring. They really should not be playing as the linemen, food runners and such,” the sports committee head told The Flame.
While the council attributed these challenges to limited personnel, some representatives emphasized that clearer delegation and planning could have mitigated the strain on existing staff.
The situation also raised questions on whether the council had sufficient manpower from the outset to handle an event of Athena’s Cup’s scale.
According to Manlapaz, future games will be handled better by borrowing staff from other offices of the ABSC, especially the volunteers from the office of the chief-of-staff.
Schedule disruption, academic impact
The ABSC told The Flame it had planned additional games on March 16 and 17 to accommodate playoffs, but they were postponed again due to the preliminary examination moratorium implemented by AB Dean Prof. Melanie Turingan.
Some games scheduled for March 7 on outside courts were also moved due to rain. Rescheduled dates are yet to be announced.
Philosophy men’s basketball player Lyan Matthew Tuggay said frequent schedule changes had created a “domino effect” on his teammates’ daily plans.
“Some of us had to cancel vacation and personal trips in order to participate in the Athena’s Cup, [only for the schedule] to be suddenly moved [to a later date],” Tuggay told The Flame.
He added that teams remained uncertain about when games would resume.
History Society sports representative Ryan Lequigan said many of their athletes have already backed out “due to the circumstances surrounding the event.”
According to Manlapaz, the games will likely continue after the Holy Week break, which will be from March 29 to April 5, should the competition continue into April.
The ABSC PRO said the games might only extend to three to four days as most games to be held will be for the semi-finals, finals and those that have been rescheduled due to the rain.
Safety and logistical challenges
Concerns over safety also emerged following multiple reported injuries during basketball games, which included a player who consequently had to undergo surgery.
A Behavioral Science student who requested anonymity recounted a physical altercation that broke out during a match against Communication students.
“Before the physical confrontation, things were still relatively peaceful,” the student said.
When the fight broke out, players intervened, but officials were slow to respond, the student added.
“I felt the referee lacked initiative… it seemed like he was just standing there,” the student said.
Escalante and the AB BOM claimed that the safety risks were worsened by inadequate facilities and a lack of contingency planning. The incident prompted the council to hire professional referees for their basketball and volleyball games instead of solely relying on volunteers from the Institute of Physical Education and Athletics.
“One of the concerns [this competition] is also the encounter between two program society players [during the games]. The office had to evaluate what happened and there were rulings and sanctions. So to avoid, for example, injuries, our proposal was to hire two pro (professional) referees,” Manlapaz said.
According to the ABSC’s updated Athena’s Cup guidelines, dated March 18, faculty managers, who are tasked with enforcing University policies and “promoting sportsmanship and discipline,” are now required to attend each game for them to proceed, except in cases of overlapping sports events.
“There must always be either a faculty manager, academic staff, society president, or sports representative present to not warrant an automatic forfeiture for the ongoing game,” it read.
The document stated that the renewed guidelines intend to mitigate incidents similar to “recent events that involved grave injuries and unsportsmanlike behavior during the games.”
Cancellation not an option
Despite the issues, the ABSC said cancelling the Athena’s Cup was never considered.
“[Our] mindset from the beginning was that Athena’s Cup would only be rescheduled, not cancelled,” Manlapaz said.
ABSC Secretary Franz Rickhayle Salangsang said continuing the tournament was necessary to give justice to the efforts of participants.
“The preparations already made are to make sure the Athena’s Cup continues, even if rescheduling is the only option,” the secretary said.
The games were eventually held at the Central Seminary Gym and other campus venues, with the opening ceremony conducted on March 2.
The AB BOM reiterated its call for reforms, urging the council to improve its handling of future events and take feedback mechanisms more seriously.
“We call on ABSC to learn from past mistakes and grow, and not let post-mortem sessions be just venting sessions for grievances,” the board said. F – Kayla Pauline Gonzales with reports from John Martin Revilla and Mikaela Angela Villacorta
