UAAP clarifies ‘pay gap’ involving basketball referees

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

After receiving numerous criticisms, the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) finally addressed the ongoing issue of disparity among its basketball referees’ salaries.

According to multiple reports, the UAAP pays the referees officiating in the men’s division the highest amount (PHP 3,000), but not in the case of officials in the juniors and women’s divisions.

Juniors division referees are only given PHP 2,500, while those officials who supervise the women’s games are paid the least with PHP 2,000.

The payment breakdown drew criticism from several basketball organizations, which are asking the UAAP to pay its referees equally to avoid discrimination.

However, the UAAP took a stand with their mode of incentive, reiterating that they observed this structure to “perform well in order to officiate crucial games.”

“Officials’ fees in the collegiate men’s, collegiate women’s, and junior high school boys’ divisions are determined by division and not by gender,” UAAP posted.

“The system serves as an incentive for game officials to maintain a high performance in officiating. The technical head made recommendations on the structure, which was adopted in consultation with the referees.”

During previous years, the UAAP paid their referees, regardless of the division, an equal amount of PHP 2,500 per game.

It is only this UAAP Season 88 that the committee decided to tweak the payment structure, which was not warmly welcomed by the majority of the hoops institutions.

“We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and reaffirm our commitment to growing the sport and working with the community to empower student-athletes, coaches, and game officials—not only in basketball but across all sports under the UAAP,” the UAAP closed.