Report: UP Pep Squad members ‘express alarm’ as former coach now department chair

Investigation on allegations will continue, say university officials
Aug 30, 2022
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PHOTO: (Perena) Kriska Joaquin-Lim/Facebook, (Screenshot) Philippine Collegian

EVEN AS university officials say that they will continue to investigate allegations against the UP Pep Squad’s former coach, Lalaine Pereña has been appointed as the new chairperson of the Department of Physical Education at the UP College of Human Kinetics (CHK).

Confirmation of the appointment was reported in Tinig ng Plaridel and the Philippine Collegian, the two university publications that posted a two-part investigation on allegations of financial mismanagement and abuse about Pereña and other members of the cheer team’s coaching staff.

Current and former Pep Squad members spoke to the publications’ reporter team — many of them under condition of anonymity — to voice their concern, anxiety, and alarm over her appointment.

A Pep Squad alumnus from 2014, who agreed to go on record, addressed the development directly, telling the publications, “What happens to the honor and excellence we stand for if we allow this tyrant to sit on a higher throne? Why would we give her any respectable position knowing full well she can abuse this power any time?”

Report details aftermath of investigative report on Lalaine Pereña, coaches

The lengthy report also details the immediate aftermath of the release of the investigative reports, including an account of a heated dialogue between the team and their coaching staff.

This ultimately led the latter to decide to resign en masse “in recognition of [...] irreconcilable differences.”

Earlier this month, Pereña appeared in a video uploaded on Facebook to announce that she would step down as head coach, as well as to decry what she considered the "clear character assassination" of the reports.

In an email to the Collegian/Tinig ng Plaridel writers, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Louise Jashil Sonido vowed that the university will “continue to look into the (financial mismanagement) allegations (against Pereña) and monitor the situation in consultation with the Diliman Legal Office.”

In that consolidated email, UP CHK dean Francis Diaz said that Pereña’s appointment as chairperson had already been considered many years ago, and praised her “impeccable record” as part of the CHK faculty.

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Sonido assured the reporters that existing university and civil service protocols would "provide safety nets" for any student concerns about the new chairperson.

Read the full report in Tinig ng Plaridel and the Philippine Collegian.

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PHOTO: (Perena) Kriska Joaquin-Lim/Facebook, (Screenshot) Philippine Collegian
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