For safety, no drums allowed in CDC

THE University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) cited safety and health reasons on why it decided not to allow drummers from performing in the Season 84 Cheerdance Competition (CDC) at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday.

“The primary consideration is the safety of everyone. Compared to basketball games where we only have two schools playing and two spots cheering, there are eight schools cheering at the same time in CDC,” UAAP president Emmanuel Calanog said.

“Based on our observations these past two months, there are really some spectators that sometimes do not follow rules and take off their masks and everything. Some of these are really health related when we decided on this.”

Drummers are usually an integral part of the CDC as they rev up the crowd during the event.

The eight drum groups of the UAAP participating schools have released a statement on Thursday, appealing to the league for them to be allowed to perform on Sunday. Calanog said that the UAAP board members will meet to discuss the said appeal.

“As you’ve said, there’s an appeal, so we will discuss this with the board and decide if we will go back and look at that position.”

The Ateneo Blue Eagles will be the first to perform on Sunday followed by the 3-peat seeking National University Pep Squad and the UP Pep Squad. FEU performs next followed by Adamson.

La Salle will be the sixth performer as University of the East and the UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe will be the seventh and the eighth performers, respectively.

There will be a maximum of 15 performers per team and a maximum of three minutes per routine.

The champion team will win P50,000 while the second and third placers will take home P30,000 and P20,000, respectively.