‘If you want the truth you can ask all my teammates privately,’ tweets Cansino
Looks like the controversy surrounding University of Santo Tomas is far from over.
Since the departure of former team captain CJ Cansino from the Tigers’ den last Thursday, the university has faced back-to-back issues -- starting with the reason why UST released Cansino from the team which led to the revelation of an alleged training bubble in Sorsogon.
Cansino, who transferred to University of the Philippines the following day, has kept mum on the issue until he guested on Carmela Tunay’s “Anong Tunay?!” show Saturday.
In the show, the 20-year-old Cansino answered queries once and for all, confirming his move to the Diliman-based squad.
But on Sunday, the former UAAP juniors’ MVP cannot help but respond to several claims via Twitter regarding the 'fast' UP recruitment process and their life in the training bubble.
The new UP recruit quoted a now deleted tweet which cited an article on coach Bo Perasol explaining Cansino’s decision to join the Maroons.
READ: How did fellow collegiate stars react to CJ Cansino’s UST exit? Check out this mock Twitter recruitment
“Too many speculations. If you don't believe me. That's ok. Hindi naman tama na mandamay ng ibang school o ng ibang tao. If you want the truth you can ask all my teammates privately,” Cansino tweeted as thread opener.
Twitter user Laban UP (@UPlangmalakas) replied on the thread with the screenshot of a certain Christ Gaudiano (@thegaudtalks).
Gaudiano’s tweet read: “This is a sham. UP already got to him and now they are using the Sorsogon bubble as an excuse to leave UST. Don’t say you love UST when you are the reason we are in this mess.”
The Twitter thread received mixed reactions from netizens and Cansino backed up his previous tweet with a meme in gif format that read: “Bakit parang kasalanan ko pa?”
An hour later, the 6-foot-2 guard tweeted: “New story. I love it.” with a heart emoji.
Perasol, however, explained that Cansino managed to transfer in an instant because of the Varsity Athletic Admissions System (VAAS) offered by the College of Human Kinetics as reported first by Spin.ph.
A different version of the Tigers’ bubble life also surfaced on social media. Twitter user @rawrrrrrr___ posted the screenshot of the circulating Facebook comment narrating the series of events that ensued.
The viral comment stated that the training bubble started mid-June and that it was “voluntary and complete with travel documents.” It also stated that no 5-on-5 events occurred, only scrimmages.
The comment added that Cansino sought permission to return to Manila early August, to which Ayo agreed. This was cancelled, however, due to the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) implemented in Mega Manila.
Ayo had learned from “sources in Manila” that UP was on the move to recruit Cansino through his “manager.” The alleged claim also stated that Cansino had changed attitude and showed “total disrespect” toward his coach and teammates.
The comment continued with Cansino creating a Facebook Messenger group on August 9 and included the parents of his teammates in the chat with the purpose of reporting their “bad condition” in the alleged Sorsogon bubble.
This led Ayo to boot Cansino off the team with the latter asking teammates Brent Paraiso and Bismarck Lina to join him out of the bubble. The two, however, declined Cansino’s invitation, the comment added.
Cansino quoted the tweet and said: “Retweet ko lang po baka madelete hehe.”
ABS-CBN News first reported that the Tigers are conducting the training camp – dubbed as the ‘Bicol bubble’ -- since June and that Cansino was sacked due to “defiance of authority.”
Under GAB jurisdiction, led by chairman Baham Mitra, are the Philippine Basketball Association, Philippine Football League and Chooks-To-Go Pilipinas 3x3.
While all these claims mentioned on social media are just speculations, UST, UAAP and the JAO group are doing their respective roles to dig deeper into the situation.