Message of Chancellor Leo B. Malagar for the Press Conference on UPHS Boys’ Football Team participation in UAAP S89 | Photo by Kyla Apostol
Maayong hapon kaninyong tanan.
To our distinguished guests from the University Athletic Association of the Philippines;
to our friends from the media;
to our partners from business, government, and the football community of Cebu and Central Visayas;
to the parents and coaches;
and to the young athletes of the UP High School Cebu Football Team:
Welcome, and thank you for joining us.
We are here this afternoon to share news that belongs not only to one school but to Cebu and to all of Region 7.
The UAAP has finally reached beyond the capital.
For more than eight decades, the University Athletic Association of the Philippines has stood at the center of Philippine school sports. Since 1938, it has filled arenas and given generations of Filipinos a team to believe in.
But for most of that history, the UAAP has been a Manila stage. Its member schools are in Metro Manila. Its games are played there.
So for a young athlete from the provinces, reaching that stage usually meant moving to Manila for good.
Leaving home.
Leaving family.
Leaving Cebu.
Many gifted young players never made that move. Not because they lacked ability, but because the distance was too great and the cost too high.
Karon, makadula na sila isip mga Sugboanon.
This school year, 23 student-athletes of UP High School Cebu will compete in boys’ football in UAAP Season 89. They will still travel to Manila to play. But they will train here. They will study here. And when they step onto the field, they will carry the name of UP Cebu and the pride of our province.
Their first match is on January 13 next year, on one of the country’s biggest stages for high school athletes.
By opening its doors to them, the UAAP has given the peripheries something they have long deserved: a place on the national stage.
And this platform leads to more doors.
For a high school athlete, the UAAP is a beginning. It can lead to college programs, to scholarships, to higher levels of competition, and to futures these young players have not yet imagined.
Ngano man nga importante kini?
Because talent is everywhere in this country.
Opportunity is not.
In Cebu and across Central Visayas, the talent has always been here. Our young players have the skill. They have the discipline. What they have lacked is a stage.
On behalf of the University of the Philippines Cebu, I thank the UAAP and its member universities. Thank you for believing that the UAAP can be truly national, not only in the audience it reaches but also in the athletes it welcomes.
UP is proud to support this team. As part of the university that was part of UAAP’s founding in 1938, we believe that excellence in education and in sport should be within reach of every young Filipino, wherever they live.
These players are students first. In a few minutes, our coaches, our athletics office, and the school principal will tell you more about the team, its preparations, and how the players will balance training and studies.
Allow me a word to our players.
You carry more than your own names. Every match you play makes the case for the young athletes of the Visayas who will follow you.
Play with discipline.
Compete with respect.
Ipasigarbo ninyo ang Sugbo.
Somewhere in this region, a young player who has only watched the UAAP on a phone screen will see you on that field. He will see someone who speaks his language and grew up where he grew up, playing at the highest level.
And he will ask himself: Kaya ba nako ni?
Because of you, he will know the answer. Kaya.
To our partners in business and in the community, and to our alumni here in Cebu: a pathway like this needs support to last. A team that plays a season in Manila needs travel, accommodation, meals, training, and care. We invite you to stand with these young athletes.
This is an investment in Cebu’s youth, in Cebu’s sport, and in the region’s place in Philippine football. And with the nation watching, those who stand with this team early will share in its story.
Ang ilang kadaugan, kadaugan sa tibuok Sugbo.
Sa atong mga higala sa media: thank you for helping tell this story. Tell it not only as the story of one team but as the story of what becomes possible when a national institution looks beyond the capital.
For a long time, the road to the UAAP began in Manila.
This season, it begins in Cebu.
Sugbo, kini na ang atong panahon.
Daghang salamat.