Nowhere to go but UP: Self-interest takes a back seat to collective good
Ten years ago, Nowhere to go but UP (ntgbUP) was founded out of collective frustration with the state of the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons, the basketball team representing the only publicly funded university in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).
The team languished at the bottom of the standings and had endured several winless seasons. After winning the UAAP basketball championship in 1986, the Fighting Maroons had become an afterthought in the league. In the book “Pacific Rims: Beermen Ballin’ in Flip-Flops and the Philippines’ Unlikely Love Affair with Basketball,” author Rafe Bartholomew wrote in a footnote, “Since UP’s basketball program is famously inept, the Maroons don’t make a dent in the hoops scene.”
As founding member Renan Dalisay discovered in 2014, the problems of UP’s basketball program went beyond its poor win-loss record. He discovered that it could not even provide for the basic needs of its players, such as food. Team members were commuting to games—and playing them—on empty stomachs. With a three-season-long losing streak, our players were not just hungry for wins—they were hungry, period. The plight of the team moved him, and after he posted a public plea urging UP alumni to step in and step up, several like-minded individuals answered the call, and Nowhere to go but UP was born.
When we first set out to support our team, winning a championship was not our initial objective. Our goal at the time was simple: to do right by our players, who, despite their talent and dedication, often found themselves at a disadvantage compared to their counterparts from better-funded UAAP schools.
‘We did what we could with what we had’
In those early days, we did what we could with what we had. We pitched in to provide recovery meals for the team and tapped prominent alumni to supply them with essential equipment, like decent basketball shoes. We organized fundraisers, solicited donations, and reached out to alumni who shared our vision. After ntgbUP members spearheaded the rebranding of the Fighting Maroons logo, we conceptualized, developed, and sold merchandise—such as caps and shirts—that ntgbUP founders lugged around in trash bags and sold to fans in the MOA Arena and Araneta Coliseum.
We organized ourselves into a foundation and slowly, methodically began to build a network of supporters who believed in our cause and collaborated with other alumni to improve various facets of our basketball program: management, talent, and coaching.
From bonfire to championship
The results didn’t come overnight. But over time, the team became competitive, the crowds of UP supporters grew, and more alumni came in to throw their support behind the program.
The process began in 2014 with a single win—and a bonfire—but by our eighth year, in UAAP Season 84, the UP Fighting Maroons won the UAAP Men’s Basketball Championship, ending a 36-year title drought. It was a triumph that may have shocked many, but for those of us who had been there from the beginning—witnessing how the UP community rallied behind the team—it was the culmination of years of blood, sweat, and tears. This story, however, is about more than just basketball.
While the success of our Fighting Maroons has been the most visible product of the efforts of the UP community, significant strides have also been made in supporting the other varsity teams of the University. From football to softball, from swimming to track and field, our student-athletes now have additional resources to help them excel in their respective sports, thanks to the backing not just of ntgbUP but of other generous, hardworking alumni. Their success has shown that with proper support, UP athletes can not only compete but win.
As we celebrate our tenth anniversary, the progress we have made fills us with hope for the future—not just for UP’s varsity programs, but for our country as a whole. UP is often referred to as a microcosm of Philippine society, and like our kababayan, the members of ntgbUP come from diverse backgrounds. We come from different parts of the country, belong to rival fraternities, and have members who ran under bitterly opposed student political parties.
Yet—as we have proven over the past decade—the impossible can become possible when self-interest takes a back seat to the collective good. Our movement began with the intention of doing right by our players, and from a struggling basketball program, we now have a competitive, top-tier team. Perhaps if our country’s leaders followed a similar blueprint—setting aside their differences and working together to do right by our people—the Philippines could become a progressive, globally competitive nation.
Our experience has taught us that anything is possible. And that even when things look grim and one hits rock bottom, one should not lose hope. Because for those willing to put in the work, there is truly nowhere to go but up.
Jed Eva is a founding member of Nowhere to go but UP and currently serves as the Chairperson of its Board of Trustees. He served in government from 1998 to 2016, the last six years as Assistant Secretary in the Office of the President, and is now the President of Istratehiya, a strategic communications, research, and political consultancy firm.
