FOR UAAP women's basketball coaches, the league's decision to revise the pay criteria for referees is a victory for the entire sport.
"On the side of women's basketball, napakinggan tayo at ginawan nila ng solusyon," said University of Santo Tomas coach Haydee Ong.
La Salle coach Cholo Villanueva agreed: "We trust the leaders of the UAAP."
"With this adjustment, we will see a higher level of officiating in every level regardless of gender and age. All basketball players are the same that they put in the same work and sacrifices for the game we love. Everybody deserves elite officiating in playing in this kind of environment."
The Office of the Commissioner quietly made changes on its pay structure for game officials, reversing course on its initial decision after drawing flak from the public.
READ: UAAP quietly revises referees’ pay scheme after backlash
Under the new scheme, the UAAP has now standardized its pay, classifying the officials based on their status: PHP4,000 per game for international referees, PHP3,000 for UAAP-exclusive referees, and PHP2,500 for revolving referees, regardless of which division they call.
If it's broke, fix it
"They accepted naman na there was a problem," shared Ong, with the league shelving its initial enforcement that created a pay gap for officials refereeing the different divisions.
The new mandate also selected 16 referees exclusively working for the UAAP based on merits, making the officials accountable for their mistakes, as penalized referees can no longer jump from league-to-league.
Augmenting these are eight other national referees - who can also call games in the NCAA - to increase the pool to 24, on top of select international referees that can be tapped.
As much as Ong welcomed these changes, she's hopeful that there will be a vast improvement when it comes to officiating and that these referees do be held accountable if they make mistakes.
"'Pag may mistakes, wag na nila i-justify," she said.
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