After rampage, suspended NCAA player John Amores receives letter from VP Duterte

After being slapped with an indefinite ban by the NCAA and being expelled from Jose Rizal University’s (JRU) sports program for rampaging against four De La Salle – College of St. Benilde players, embattled JRU forward John Amores has apparently received words of encouragement from an unlikely source: the Office of the Vice President.

Amores shared a photo of the envelope addressed to him that came from Vice President Sara Duterte’s office.

Writing on Facebook that he was “feeling blessed,” Amores said it was his pleasure receiving this gesture from the vice president.

The athlete quoted a supposed excerpt from the letter, which read, “Remember the lesson not the mistake. You have a friend from the Office of the Vice President.”

“It was a great honor [Ma’am] thank you for those words of encouragement,” he wrote, adding, “P.S. I will have this framed as a remembrance that despite all the bashers and negative critics, there is one person who will remind you of your worth even if you are not related by blood. I won’t lose hope; somewhere in between the darkest season of my life there’s still a light.”

Amores’ brawl was broadcast on television as the JRU third-year forward lunged at the St. Benilde Blazers’ bench on the opposite side of the court with three minutes and 44 seconds left in their game. He hit four St. Benilde players, two of whom were knocked to the ground.

Amores’ violent rampage was not an isolated incident. In July, he mauled 18-year-old rookie Mark Belmonte of the University of the Philippines during an off-season game, resulting in the latter requiring gum and mouth surgery at the Philippine General Hospital. Renan Dalisay, founder of the alumni organization Nowhere to Go But UP, said that they were forced to press criminal charges against Amores after JRU swept the incident under the rug and did not pay for Belmonte’s medical expenses.

Meanwhile, the vice president has also caught herself in a similar case. Then mayor of Davao City, Duterte was caught on television punching a court sheriff amid demolition ops in the city.



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