THE Most Valuable Player (MVP) in last year’s basketball junior version of the University Athletics Association of the Philippines tournament will not play for the UST Growling Tigers in this year’s collegiate cage wars.
Jun Cortez, who was instrumental in the Tiger Cubs’ championship last year, failed to make the college ranks via the Pupil Evaluation Program (PEP) test. The PEP, an acceleration test administered by the Department of Education (DepEd), would have enabled the UST High swingman to skip his senior year and compete for the seniors team as a college freshman. Despite having a year left in high school, Cortez is ineligible to suit up for the Tiger Cubs as he is over-aged at 20 years old.
Dubbed as the missing puzzle piece in UST’s return to the league’s upper echelon, Cortez’s entry into the seniors team roster this year seemed inevitable, since he played for the Growling Tigers in the Fr. Martin’s Cup last summer.
But since he failed the exam, the would-be rookie is in limbo. Cortez, who took the PEP test twice, said he was told by officials that all he needed to do was take the exam and everything else would be taken care of.
“Hindi inasikaso iyong PEP ko. Sabi sa akin, basta mag-test lang ako, tapos sila na ang bahala,” he said.
The disappointment of sitting out a year has made the blue-chip college prospect doubt joining the Tigers.
According to the high school hotshot, the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons and the Far Eastern University Tamaraws have already expressed their intention of acquiring him. If the Tigers lose out on having the Pampanga native in their line-up, the España-based squad will miss out on a prolific scorer and a reliable floor general. Christian B. Bautista
