Moalboal ‘basketbrawl’: Sanctions, bans imposed on those involved in UC-CIT-U melee

screengrab from video of John Lester Tapales on the post-game fight in Moalboal, Cebu on April 23, 2023.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Multiple suspensions and bans were imposed by the Moalboal Sports Committee to those involved in April 23’s basketball brawl between the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters and the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats after their game in an inter-collegiate hoops tilt in the town. 

In a statement released by the Moalboal Sports Committee, the latter was the one to decide what sanctions would be imposed instead of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) officials. 

WATCH: ‘Basketbrawl’ in Moalboal, Cebu

Cesafi headed by its commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy gave authority to the Moalboal Sports Committee to place the sanctions as they were the ones who organized the basketball tournament billed as the Mayor Inocentes Cabaron Inter-Collegiate Invitational Basketball Tournament.

The tournament, which was supposed to be an exciting pre-season tilt featuring six Cesafi member schools, took an ugly turn on Sunday evening after CIT-U and UC players figured in a brawl. Family members of one of UC’s players were also involved in the incident. 

Suspensions, bans

On Wednesday, the Moalboal Sports Committee placed a one-game suspension to UC’s Joseph Art Nalos, CIT-U’s Eduard Clarete Jr. and Key Darang Suano for having been involved in the brawl. 

Also, UC’s statistician Niño Teff Atunay is also suspended for one game. 

CIT-U head coach Edsel Vallena and acting head coach Calib Gawangon are also suspended for one game for their failure to contain their players and de-escalate the post-match tension. 

READ: Cesafi on Moalboal brawl: No sanctions for the time being but…

“The Moalboal Sports Committee is grateful to the Cesafi for its swift decision and for sternly warning the coaches and players to behave properly after the unfortunate incident involving UC and CIT-U last April 23,” Moalboal Sports Committee’s statement said. 

“The league has also informed us that it will conduct a thorough face-to-face probe and will call the individuals involved once the commissioner returns from a personal out-of-the-country trip next month. Additionally, Commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy has advised the committee that as organizers, we can impose sanctions on our own.”

The Moalboal Sports Committee based their sanctions under Cesafi rules, wherein players who are involved in violent conduct are instantly meted with its minimum punishment which is a one-game suspension, even if it happened outside the venue and after the match. 

Banned from tournament

The heftiest sanction imposed by the Moalboal Sports Committee was banning the relatives of Nalos in Joseph Airo Nalos and Joseph Airo Nalos Sr. from attending the rest of the games of the tournament. 

The sanctions will be effective on April 28 for UC as they face University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), while CIT-U’s sanctions will take effect on April 30 in the tournament’s knockout round. 

The organizers of the tournament vowed to investigate deeper into the incident to place sanctions on those individuals who were not yet identified by the Moalboal PNP spot report.

READ: Basketbrawl: Moalboal sports committee to enhance security measures following post-game fight