Vice President and Secretary of Education wrote a letter to John Amores, a member of the struggling Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers basketball team.
Part of the letter was posted by Amores on Facebook and reads, “Remember the lesson, not the mistake. You have a friend from the Office of the Vice President.”
Thanks to his wild behavior during a game against the College of Saint Benilde Blazers, the basketball player was suspended. He took to Facebook to express his gratitude to the vice president, updating his status to “feeling blessed.”
The athlete quipped, “It was a great honor Ma’am thank you for those words of encouragement.”
“Ipapa-frame ko to as a remembrance na sa dami ng bashers at negative critics, may isang tao na ipapaalala sayo na mahalaga ka kahit ‘di mo kaano ano,” he added.
“I won’t lose hope, somewhere in between in the darkest season of my life there’s still a light,” Amores continued.
Netizens found it funny for Duterte to console Amores given that she also got viral for punching someone while she was still mayor of Davao.
'SAME FEATHER'
JRU John Amores: "It's my pleasure this kind of gesture from our Dearly VP Sara Duterte ❤"
VP Sara: "Remember the lesson not the mistake. You have a friend from the Office of the Vice President"
— TAGAPAGMULAT 🇵🇭✊ (@tagapagmulat) December 7, 2022
Pagkatapos manapak ng player ng Benilde at UP, nagpaabot si VP Sara Duterte kay John Amores ng words of encouragement. Tapos, kating-kati siyang disiplinahin ang mga estudyante? Tara, teh, sabay-sabay na mag-toothbrush, pagkatapos manapak.
— Jerry B. Grácio (@JerryGracio) December 7, 2022
https://twitter.com/A9IOV/status/1600754825217847296?s=20
Ofc birds of a feather https://t.co/7T5FdVAn3J
— erin (@ERlNMOlRA) December 8, 2022
mvp – most violent player
vp – violent personlol magsama kayo. i hate it here so much https://t.co/CeiTq1B8Gj
— yiyi (@xevytri) December 8, 2022
May future sa politics si Amores. He should just let go of his basketball dream and run.
— ċѧṃıʟʟєṡҡı (@clerie143) December 7, 2022
same same. kayo dpat mag sapakan. para kang si may weather. suntok takbo. suntok takbo. hahahaha
— Andres Bonifacio (@AndrBonifacio) December 7, 2022
In addition to being suspended, Amores is currently involved in two separate legal cases.
Jimboy Pasturan and Taine Davis, both members of the Trail Blazers, were two of the four players who were punched by Amores during the game. They brought legal action against Amores.
Prior to this, a player for the University of the Philippines named Mark Belmonte filed a criminal complaint against a player for the JRU alleging that the latter caused him “serious physical injuries.”