UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas players who have been in Sorsogon during the COVID-19 pandemic are heading home as school officials prepare to appear before UAAP officials and members of an IATF-created body.
Spin.ph sources confirmed that Tigers players and staff are set to come home as coach Aldin Ayo and school officials face the music after the ouster of a key player opened the lid on the team's apparent bubble training.
The players, sources said, are only awaiting the necessary documents to be able to travel back to Manila.
The Sorsogon bubble training, which sources said has started in mid-June, has put the heat on Ayo and school officials since it disregarded government's quarantine protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A fact-finding committee created by the school is set to present before the UAAP and the IATF-created probing body on Wednesday, with penalties expected to be handed out not long after.
Over the past few days, details have slowly emerged from the training in Capuy, Sorsogon, hometown of Ayo where he is a three-term councilor.
Evidence is stacked against the team: undated videos of the non-contact drills in a gym reportedly owned by Ayo as well as waivers signed by the players' parents and legal guardians addressed to Institute of Physical Education and Athletics (IPEA) director Fr. Jannel Abogado.
Sources added the players have been in Sorsogon for the past two months after "voluntarily" joining the trip in mid-June.
Ayo has yet to respond to numerous SPIN.ph requests for comment.
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