A player in the Women’s National Basketball League is rising above discrimination from a couple of teams over her rare physical condition that they feel give her an edge.
Several teams have protested the presence of Caryle Monique Molina in the Laguna Lady Pistons roster, questioning her gender due to her apparent male features.
Molina made her WNBL debut last May 19, flashing her potential with 17 points and 13 rebounds to help the Lady Pistons roll to their first win in one of the country’s first amateur leagues for women organized by the NBL, a 91-71 blowout over the Pampanga Delta Amazons.
The 5-foot-11 center’s debut, though, raised eyebrows from the opposing team, citing a precedent of a protest when she was still in college with Far Eastern University in an incident that cut her UAAP career short after playing for the Lady Tamaraws for two years.
Molina insisted no protest had been filed; Instead, FEU only asked her to stop playing as a precaution. The school still honored her scholarship until she graduated and even gave her a job as a coach for one of their varsity teams.
“Ang totoo, walang nangyaring protest,” Molina told SPIN.ph. “Inunahan lang ng school na hindi na ako paglaruin kasi ayaw po nilang masira yung reputation. Syempre ako, sino ba naman ako, bakit ko naman sila kakalabanin?”
“Pumayag po ako dun. Wala namang problema. Ang importante, maka-graduate ako,” she added.
Called by NBL/WNBL league officials, Molina explained her side and is shrugging off the protests against her.
“Parang natutuwa sila na may nada-down na tao. Bakit po sila ganun? Bakit nila pinipigilan ang kasiyahan ng isang tao?” the 22-year-old Molina asked.
“Ako, hindi ko naman kasalanan na ganito ako, kasi binigay sa akin ni God ito. Syempre ine-embrace ko po ito,” she added. “Tsaka may talent din po ako. Alangan naman itago ko yung talent ko? Parang nawawalan ng gender equality na sinasabi nila.”
Molina vowed to keep fighting in the middle of the brewing controversy.
“Sa karamihan po, pag nadi-discriminate yung isang tao, minsan nagpapakamatay. Pero ako, lumalaban po ako,” she said. “Kahit nung una, nagugulat ako kung bakit ganito yung physical appearance ko, pero malakas talaga po yung chromosomes ng lalaki sa akin.”
The NBL/WNBL is standing by Molina and against discrimination.
League executive vice president Rhose Montreal confirmed Molina is listed female in the Philippine Statistics Authority-certified birth certificate she earlier submitted as primary requirment for joining the league.
“We launched WNBL because we want to give a platform and equal opportunity for everyone to maximize their talents,” Montreal said. “We strongly oppose discrimination of any sort, because this is not a matter of gender, but an uncontrollable circumstance.”
"We are here to discover more talents - not looks," the league top official added.
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