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UAAP ref caught taking videos of players in shower

by Ayee D. Macaraig

A UAAP football referee was caught taking videos of women volleyball players showering at the Blue Eagle Gym on January 27 during a UAAP women’s volleyball tournament. Dennis Balore, the ref­eree, was outside the shower room, lifting his cellphone over the wall to take videos of the women, said University Athletics Director Richard Palou. A volleyball player from the University of Sto. Tomas who was in the shower room allegedly saw his hand and then reported him to the vol­leyball teams’ coaches. Sensing he was discov­ered, Balore tried to escape but the coaches and players caught up with him. Campus security also apprehended Balore. Balore’s Nokia N91, which was confiscated, showed vid­eos of players half-naked. The videos were even alleg­edly organized into folders by school. “I heard about the cell­phone having the folders … I heard some of the players even saw themselves on the videos which brought them to tears as they saw themselves,” said Ateneo volleybelle Trisha Limgenco (IV AB Comm). “The security guards im­mediately erased the folders once they had a witness le­gally [vouch] for the videos,” said Limgenco. Several women volleyball players filed charges of undue vexation against Balore, ac­cusing him of video voyeur­ism. Others filed charges of child abuse since some of the players were minors. Among those who filed charges were from the Uni­versity of the East, Far Eastern University, De La Salle University, and UST, the Inquirer reported. As of press time, Balore remains detained at Camp Karingal in Quezon City. The Quezon City prosecutor’s office recommended a bail of close to P200,000 for his temporary release. The NCR Football As­sociation banned Balore for life from any football activity while the Philippine Foot­ball Federation revoked his license and suspended him indefinitely.

“Scary incident”

“It’s a scary incident. I can’t imagine the probability of my own teammates having been videotaped since we use those bathrooms more often than any other team,” said Limgenco. She added, “I feel incred­ibly violated and shocked that someone would be able to do such a malicious act!” “He’s really a pervert. I can’t believe he did that,” said Lady Eagle Karizza Javier (IV AB Comm), who also uses the shower room in the Gym. Javier said that her worry was that Balore might have uploaded the videos he took on the Internet.

Male, female bathrooms

University Physical Plant Administrator Leoncio Mi­ralao Jr. said that outsiders are usually not allowed to enter the dugout but Balore was able to enter because he was a regular referee for the UAAP. “I think [the incident] is really alarming because it’s most unusual. I have been here in Ateneo for over 25 years and we never had a case like that,” said Miralao. Limgenco, however, said that the incident was bound to happen considering that there was no security in the dugout and that the male and female bathrooms in the Blue Eagle Gym are not completely separated. “I remember there were times [when] I would walk into the shower room, see­ing a guy in [there] changing since they would not bother to lock the door,” she said. “There was [also] a time [when] my teammate was showering and when she was finished, there was a guy sitting nonchalantly waiting for her to finish,” said Limgenco. Limgenco hopes the ad­ministration would com­pletely separate and square off the male and female shower rooms.

Tightening security

Palou said that after the incident, Ateneo tightened security by posting a lady guard outside the dugout and boarding up the shower room. “It was an incident that we did not expect to hap­pen. We’re happy that the referee was caught and a case was filed against him,” said Palou. “We’re sure that this will not happen again in the future.”

With reports from Karl Louie B. Fajardo and Sabrina L. Oliveros