About Maui Villanueva from UBelt

by Sidney Ventura

Maui V. and the UAAP Rule Book

I have yet to soak in the weird sight of Maui Villanueva in a La Salle uniform. It’s probably an unconscious decision on my part, Maui being one of my favorite 21st-century UPIS players, the others being Marvin Cruz and Jason Espiritu. At this point, seeing him in another uniform would probably be like getting braces fitted on: it won’t be pretty to look at, and you will need some time getting used to it.

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For what it’s worth, and perhaps to make me feel better, I understand Maui going to DLSU was already a done deal even before the kid left for Japan nearly three years ago. “His mother had already made the decision for Maui to go to La Salle,” a former teammate of Maui’s told me a couple of months ago. “The Japan trip just delayed making it official. That’s why during the UP tryouts in early 2005 he was pretty much coasting.”

Apparently, Maui’s mom exerts a strong influence in his life and is very protective of him. “She is a strong woman, and she got my respect,” was how one of my DLSU sources described her.

The same source also believes Maui will make an immediate impact with the defending champs. “He’s very good. Better than advertised. Steady shooter with a consistent trey. Knows how to play against taller opponents.”

That’s pretty much how I remember Maui during his UPIS days, except for the part about being a steady shooter with a three-point shot. He obviously honed this part of his game in Japan.

So this means even if the coaching situation in UP wasn’t muddled late last year, it’s doubtful the Maroons could have prevented this homegrown talent from slipping away. Maui was practically signed, sealed and delivered already. Ateneo also made a run at him, but the kid’s mind was already made up.

Once again, too bad for UP, which is in dire need of a big man. Maui could have easily provided the rebounding and interior defense the Maroons lack. This was painfully obvious during their Filoil debut against the JRU Heavy Bombers, whose post men Sena and Hayes were practically jumping on the shoulders of UP big men Andrew Marfori and Magi Sison and doing cartwheels.

The question on a lot of people’s minds, though, is whether Maui can immediately suit up without violating the UAAP rule informally named after him. Initially I thought he couldn’t, my understanding of the rule being that a player must have spent at least three of the last five years in the Philippines, otherwise he needs to sit out two years.

But I was able to get hold of a copy of the eligibility rule covering cases like this. Ironically, it appears it was proposed by UP’s Board representative in 2005, former CHK Dean Gilda Uy. Check of 4c (bold fonts mine):

4. Except as provided in these Rules, the residency requirement for students who have studied abroad in order to be eligible to play in the UAAP, shall be two (2) consecutive years having duly enrolled in the Philippines, and having satisfactorily met the academic requirements by passing the minimum number of units required (for transferees please refer to rules on transfer students).

Further, the following cases are exempted:

a.    children of parents assigned abroad due to the nature of their jobs;
b.    children of parents who are OFWs; and
c.    Filipino students who had their 2nd high school graduation abroad, provided the 1st graduation was from a high school in the Philippines.

I guess that pretty much settles it. I’m pretty sure Maui graduated from UPIS in 2005, so that would count for his “1st graduation from a high school in the Philippines.”

However, I find it odd for an exception like that to be inserted. I mean, seriously, how many students graduate from high school twice? If it was Dean Uy who inserted 4c, I guess she had Maui in mind when she did so, probably thinking that UP would still have a lock on him after he came back from Japan.

Of course, you can chalk this up as another one of the Board’s reactive rules that get passed every other year and are named after a certain player. 2003 brought us the Jerwin Gaco Rule, 2005 was the aforementioned Maui Villanueva Rule, while last year saw the sudden approval of the Soc Rivera Rule.

So 2008 being an even year, can we expect the Board to lay off approving any reactionary rules? April is the month that any proposed new rules are deliberated on and either approved or rejected, so even as we speak the Board is probably huddled together somewhere, wracking their brains to decide which new rules will make the least sense and get these approved.

According to my spy, the following items are on the agenda of the next Board meeting:

1.    All the teams except La Salle, UST and Ateneo are batting for an expansion of the two-foreigner limit per school and want foreign-sounding surnames to be considered foreigners as well. This will force La Salle to remove Simon Atkins, PJ Walsham, and Bader Malabes, UST to take out Dylan Ababou and Khasim Mirza, and Ateneo to strike out Rabah Al-Husseini and Jobe Nkemakolam (wait, I think Jobe already struck himself out academically). Chinese surnames will not be included because the league still needs Chris Tiu and Woody Co to bring in the teenybopper crowd.

2.    UP, meanwhile, is submitting its own separate amendment to the two-foreigner rule and wants all head coaches to be included in the foreigner count. This will hopefully cause a bit of confusion in the Ateneo camp and force Norman Black to drop incoming rookie Vince Burke, who was supposed to go to the Maroons until Joe Lipa got fired. With Burke out of Ateneo, Aboy Castro can try recruiting Burke again and get UP that big man it needs.

3.    UP will also seek for an amendment of the Soc Rivera Rule, specifically asking that any school who goes through as much trouble as UP did last year to secure Rivera has the right to ask for its money back should the said recruit get himself kicked out after only one year.

4.    FEU will issue a statement saying, “He who laughs last laughs longest.”

5.    UE will make an inquiry and demand to know whose bright idea it was to do away with the rule declaring that any team who goes 14-0 automatically wins the title.

6.    UST will once again make an appeal to get Jojo Duncil in its line-up, citing the fact that his career in the PBA is going nowhere so therefore they were wrong to say he was ready for the pros last year when they tried their best to cover up that birth certificate issue. Red Bull will reportedly agree so long as they can get Duncil back by 2009 since they are scheduled to trade him and half of their players to a San Miguel team by this time in exchange for whichever player has the lowest salary.