The athletes were asked to leave the plane before takeoff
Senator Bam Aquino wants the POEA and the Bureau of Immigration to explain why they pulled three members of Pinoy DoTA team Rave from a plane that was about to leave for South Korea.
The Rave members Mark “Cast” Pilar, Djardel “Chrissy” Mampusti and Ryo “ryOyr” Hasegawa were about to leave the country to train for upcoming international competitions, namely the ESL and Rebull LAN.
Team Rave is the same pinoy team that managed to bag $150,000 (around Php 6.6 million pesos) in the DOTA 2 Asian Championships earlier this year.
The sudden pull-out of the athletes that had already boarded on the plane is strange considering that they were travelling using the same documents in the past.
“They have traveled several times to South Korea using the same documents they presented in the past without any hitch. Suddenly, they were barred from leaving without any valid reason,” Sen. Bam stressed.
Sen. Bam Aquino thinks that the government should encourage our athletes to compete and not hinder their ambitions to support our country. Team Rave, if you don’t know, compete under the banner of the Philippines without any support from the government and have to pay out of their own pocket to compete and train at these events.
A Facebok post from Jio ‘Jeyo’ Madayag of Rave outlines his frustration with the government. He says “What kind of country stops their own country men from pursuing their dreams for the pride of their country? even though 3 of my team mates had all the legal documents prepared, they stopped them from boarding the plane. Asking for unnecessary documents that you need to pay for, the one that should have the right to deny them entry is the country that they will be headed to (Korea). Nice system right there. They’ve wasted not only our money, but our time. Time we could have used to practice and compete.”
“Government should be able to provide an environment where our athletes, online or offline, be able to hone their skills, compete in world class competitions, and give honor and pride to our country,” Sen. Bam pointed out.
The office of Sen. Bam has been extending assistance to Team Rave as support for the growth of the community and development of the e-industry in the country.
“We will continue helping them in any way we can because we believe in their potential in bringing honor to our country,” Sen. Bam said.
