Basketball coaches Pumaren, Ayo win city council seats

MANILA, Philippines – Veteran basketball coaches Franz Pumaren and Aldin Ayo brought their success from the court to the poll booths as both won their respective electoral campaigns. 

Pumaren, who was recently named coach of the Adamson University men’s team, is on his way to his second term as councilor of Quezon City’s third district, having 56,616 votes as of 11:55 pm on Tuesday, May 10, which is good for fifth most with 6 council seats up for grabs.

Pumaren had previously steered De La Salle University to 5 UAAP championships, including a 4-peat feat from 1998 to 2001. 

Known for implementing the full-court press defense on opposing teams, Pumaren is set to make his return to collegiate basketball with Adamson after coaching the Air21 Express in the PBA for 3 seasons.

Meanwhile, Ayo won for the third time as councilor of Sorsogon City’s west district, garnering 9,232 votes.

Ayo, 38, was supposed to give up his bid for a third term in office, but he later had a change of heart regarding his decision and still ran for councilor.

Ayo, who led Colegio de San Juan de Letran to win its first NCAA basketball championship since 2005, was named as the new head coach of La Salle following Juno Sauler’s resignation in 2015. – Rappler.com