Lawmaker: JRU’s Amores should have been arrested ‘immediately’

Jose Rizal University (JRU) basketball player John Amores should have been arrested by the San Juan City police "immediately" on Tuesday after attacking three players from the opposing team during their game, a lawmaker said Thursday.

Manila 3rd District Representative Joel Chua, a lawyer, issued the statement after Amores threw punches on the basketball court in San Juan's Fil-Oil Arena during the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) game between the JRU Heavy Bombers and the College of St. Benilde Blazers.

The incident came at the 3:22 mark of the fourth quarter with JRU trailing big, 51-71. Amores was seen taking his anger out on a referee then retreating to the JRU bench with his teammates. He then apparently reacts to a fan and charges the CSB bench, punching at least three Benilde players.

“The San Juan City police should investigate yesterday’s violent incident during the NCAA game between the basketball teams of the College of St. Benilde and Jose Rizal University. This is a police matter, a matter of public order and security at a public venue,” Chua said in a statement.

“JRU player John Amores was 'in flagrante delicto,' actually committing crimes during the game. If the law was followed, the San Juan PNP personnel on duty at the venue should have immediately arrested John Amores there, and then, or citizen’s arrest should have been done. It seems neither happened,” he added.

NCAA officials ultimately decided to stop the contest and ruled that the final score remains at 71-51, in favor of the Blazers.

The NCAA has suspended Amores indefinitely. Fourteen more players—11 from JRu and three from Benilde—were also suspended.

JRU has apologized for the incident, saying that it has also suspended Amores.

"This means that he will not play for the remainder of the NCAA Season 98 basketball games of the Heavy Bombers nor participate in team practices," JRU Management Committee representative Paul Supan said.

Chua added that mayors should direct their local police departments deploy personnel to sporting venues, especially courtside. 

Chua said the police should be there also for crowd control and should be supervising the private security personnel deployed at the venues.

“Apparently, there are no rules and regulations governing police intervention during violent incidents during these basketball games and other sports events. There should be,” Chua added.

GMA News Online has reached out to San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora for comment.

Tuesday’s incident already marked Amores’ second involvement in an on-court scuffle in four months. He punched UP Maroons player Mark Belmonte during a game in the PG Flex Linoleum-UCBL Preseason Tournament last July. — BM, GMA Integrated News