Controversial point guard Forthsky Padrigao acknowledged his past “mistakes” in a lengthy social media post as he announced his departure from Ateneo de Manila University men’s basketball team on Monday night.
Padrigao did not elaborate on what these “mistakes” were but expressed regret for his “irresponsible words and actions.”
“I want to express my deepest apologies because, even if I never intended to and never physically hurt anyone, I have come to realize the gravity of my irresponsible words and actions and the pain they caused others,” Padrigao’s Instagram post read.
The 21-year-old cager broke his silence after more than a week since Ateneo announced that Padrigao will miss the coming University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 86 due to “academic probation.”
Padrigao has been the center of sexual assault allegations that have haunted his UAAP career with the reigning champion Blue Eagles.
“Over the course of my stay in Ateneo, I made both right and wrong decisions. The past several months have been very difficult, and I fully acknowledge that this is because of mistakes that I made before when I was still in high school, which haunt me to this day,” he said.
However, no formal complaint has been filed against Padrigao and the team never addressed the issue despite going viral on social media.
“In the past months, many conclusions were drawn about me, and I don’t take that against people, but I know in my heart I am not who they think I am. I want to take what I can from this experience and work to improve myself going forward.”
Padrigao shared that attending classes had become harder and that her mother had to fly back to Zamboanga “because of the pressure.”
But despite the controversies, Padrigao still played a big role in the Blue Eagles’ Season 85 championship run.
He was even named in the Mythical Five averaging 11.61 points, 4.94 assists, 4.22 rebounds and 2.22 steals per game. Padrigao was a runner-up for the Most Valuable Player award won by Malick Diouf of University of the Philippines.
Still, Padrigao remained grateful to Ateneo.
