The Black Toroman

HOWDY!

After a two-week hiatus, finally – I'm baaaaack!

Yes, it's been two listless weeks for me and as I went on to check my mailbox – lo and behold – a truckload of letters! So like a responsible adult that I am, I diligently sorted each mail, from the most important to the least, then patiently read everything before picking the four most interesting questions that deserve to be featured in today's edition.

Alright, to start things up, I picked a letter from a prominent collegiate coach who is perceived as the most logical choice to be the successor of Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman. He has been coaching for nearly three decades and his killer resume is definitely a dream for a team owner and a nightmare for an opposing coach.

So when he privately expressed his interest to bolt out of college basketball next year despite posting a winning record, speculations quickly floated that he is being tipped to handle the men's national basketball team. Take that, Chot Reyes!

Another letter-sender, a well-known basketball figure from Mendiola, Manila, was seeking my advice over the brawl that erupted in the previous week. Of course, he wouldn't admit it, but witnesses claim that his involvement had left a seasoned volleyball mentor badly beaten, a young collegiate star furious, and the entire sports community stunned. Now, that's camaraderie.

And finally, I also picked two letters; one from a former PSC boss and the other from his bitter foe, asking for brotherly advice on their respective problems. The former PSC chief was asking why is he being persecuted despite reviving the cash-strapped sports agency while his foe, a ranking official of the POC who is said to be the most powerful man in the country next to the President, is worried about his future, especially now that the country has suffered its most embarrassing finish in the Southeast Asian Games.

Do you think he would get another shot at the helm, or will his constituents assemble a powerful bloc that would boot him out of power – the same way Cito Dayrit and Go Teng Kok did with Christy Ramos Jalasco in 1999?

All that and more will be answered in this week's edition of Dear Brutus.

(As always, the answers are real, the questions were fabricated)

***

Dear Brutus,

During my playing days, I gained a reputation of being a bruiser, a thug who can beat the hell out of my opponents, be it an import or a local. I was the younger version of the great Sonny Jaworski who wouldn't mind to stick my finger into the a-hole of an import just to stop him from scoring.

Defense was my game. Macho was my calling card.

When I decided to chase a coaching career, this reputation has spilled off the sidelines. Nobody can mess around my team. I am ready to stand by my boys – whether they are right or wrong.

But now, this reputation has put me in such a sticky situation. I am now being charged of mauling a poor volleyball coach whose players insulted my African player. I don't tolerate racial slur in my family, especially if it's done in our territory, but mauling somebody is a different story. I cannot do that. I must have been provoked. There must be a reason.

How do you think will this affect my career and the reputation of the institution I embody? Will I be put on hot water once found guilty? I may look tough but, yes, I'm bothered. Seriously bothered.

Please advice,

F.L. of Mendiola, Manila

Dear F.L. of Mendiola, Manila

Hey Frankie Lim, what you and your boys did was way, way below the belt. It's no longer about sports – it's physical injury. And it doesn't only reflect on you as a person, but also on the entire San Beda College as your institution and Smart Telecommunications as your employer.

Imagine reducing an aging 5'7 man and a skinny 4'11 girl into a bloody pulp by a group of muscular basketball players only because of an alleged racial slur was overheard by your African import. Do you think it was fair? What kind of message do you want to send to your kids by spearheading the brawl, that it's okay to be beat an older man just because his guys committed a grave mistake on your teammate?

Look, Frankie, I know how you operate and I know that you were not telling the truth when you said that you were provoked and you merely defended your import.

I remember a few years ago, in the heat of the San Beda-JRU game, you alleged that your one-time officemate, Ariel Vanguardia, instructed his big men to hack Sam Ekwe, your 6-foot-10 prized recruit from Nigeria. Your team won, but when the final buzzer sounded, you gave a hard shove on Vanguardia on your way to the locker room.

Vanguardia screamed, asking you why the hell did you do that while you calmly walk to the press room, unleash a sheepish smile, light a cigarette and proceed with the usual interview as if nothing happened. The incident could have escaped even the nosiest reporter had Vanguardia didn't barged into the press room and give a scathing interview about your rude attitude, which was the main reason why he resigned from Talk N' Text.

When reporters sought your comment, here's what you said: "He did not resign. I fired him."

Now, do you think the sports fan would give you their sympathy? I hope your boss, Manny Pangilinan, would be too busy to follow up the development of the case filed against you.

Sorry, but you already lost my respect.

Keep on punching,

Brutus

***

Dear Brutus,

Talking about being slapped with a case, I, too, am being charged before the Office of the Ombudsman. The complain? Just a petty case of irregularity because my accusers, the current administration of the PSC, alleged that I bloated the number of janitors during my time.

Funny because they cannot show rock-solid proof that I stole something from government coffers. They also said that the Philcare Manpower Services benefitted from my administration, putting the government in a disadvantage.

Now the question is: Why only now?

Why only now that the country has suffered its most embarrassing setback in the SEA Games, or now that that PSC chairman Ritchie Garcia, a loyal lapdog of Peping Cojuangco, is being rumored to be on his way out? Are they serious in bringing me to court, or do they just want to have a sacrificial lamb, a smokescreen, at my expense?

Do I have to bring the big guns, or will I resolve it in a very gentle way?

Keeping it cool,

H.A. of Binondo, Manila

Dear H.A. of Binondo, Manila

Oh, Harry Angping, don't worry too much. I know you, in my book, you're one of the most brilliant PSC chairmen ever to assume office. Under your watch, you turned Rizal Memorial Sports Complex from a dungeon of losers into a pantheon of greatness. Under your watch, the beer joints surrounding the decades-old complex were demolished, replacing them with more wholesome restaurants, drug stores and convenience stores.

You improved the morale and instilled a positive attitude into our athletes by increasing their allowances, improving their facilities and, most of all, treating them like family, even asking your alma mater, La Salle, to take care of their studies.

But politics removed you from office.

You, a well-known Gloria appointee, lost your bet in Gilbert Teodoro, prompting Peping to snatch the ear of his favorite nephew, President Noynoy Aquino, and ask for your head. Instead, Aquino appointed his Uncle Joe's golf buddy, Garcia – a two-time sports commissioner who left no legacy but a flurry of overseas junkets and a mob of angry employees because of his sacada leadership style. 

And now they are accusing you of what, employing a battalion of janitors? They gotta be kidding me.

Harry, you've had worst. You are a three-time congressman and NPC chairman for NCR and you know how politics works. You're good at it. You're better than I thought.

So please, brush it off. Do not mind what your detractors from the PSC and the POC are hurling at you because at the end of the day, all cases filed against you will be dismissed. No need to bring out the big guns. Your honesty, credibility and legacy in the PSC were enough to establish your innocence.

You are way better than them. And in my book, you will always be a leader.

Full support,

Brutus

***

Dear Brutus,

Speculations are wildly flying these days.

After privately confirming that next season would be my last with Ateneo, the rumor mill started grinding, claiming that I am being groomed to be the successor of Rajko Toroman as Smart Gilas head coach. My friends congratulated me. My family wished me well. Even the people from the Ateneo community and my teammates over at Talk N' Text say that I deserve the job.

If I'm living in a fantasy land, it's a job made in heaven. But in reality, it's a big responsibility.

To even fan the flame, Toroman announced that SBP president Manny Pangilinan has yet to extend an offer to him, prompting him to set his sights on other options in Europe. He was supposed to fly here in November to sit down with Pangilinan, but since the Southeast Asian Games was in full gear, the meeting was cancelled to January.

Until now, nothing was heard from the SBP management regarding the possible offer.

Same goes with Chot Reyes, the Tropang Texters' mentor who has been actively campaigning for the job, and Ryan Gregorio, who is quietly wishing to land the position. Reyes said the role fits him perfectly after having a resume, and the confidence, fit for a national drill master while Gregorio has a potent weapon in his kuya, one-time SBP executive director and now Maynilad VP Pato, who has Pangilinan's ear.

But me? I don't have any connection.

All I have is my resume.

As you know, Brutus, I am a grand slam-winning mentor who brought the Philippines to the third place of the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games, the same finish Toroman had in any Asian-level competition. Also, I gave Ateneo four straight titles and was instrumental to Talk N' Text's surge last season as Reyes' consultant.

And the latest feather on my cap? A gold medal in the 26th SEA Games last month.

So tell me, do you think I have what it takes to become the national coach? Or all that's been circulating around are just like it – plain rumors meant to torch my possible appointment?

Please shed light,

N.B. of Katipunan, Quezon City

Dear N.B. of Katipunan, Quezon City

Norman Black, let me tell you this: Among all coaches I know, you're the only person qualified to succeed Toroman. No, I'm not kidding. And I know you know it.

Look, Norman; all coaches have their respective styles. Yeng Guiao is a screamer, Ryan Gregorio is an altar boy, Chot Reyes is trying to be a role model, Tim Cone is a drill master while Jong Uichico, Siot Tanquincen, Ato Agustin and the army of coaches that trained under the watchful eyes of the legendary Ron Jacobs are all good at scouting and game-time preparation.

But you – you are a teacher. You are the black Rajko Toroman.

If you have already forgotten, you turned the shy and undersized Emman Monfort into a defensive monster in the backcourt and Nico Salva into a sweet-shooting big man who knows how to move around for an easy jumper. Before them, LA Tenorio, Larry Fonacier, Doug Kramer and JC Intal trained under your wings.

And in the SEA Games, you had the balls to slap those who go beyond your rules. The classic example would be those boys from San Sebastian; Ronald Pascual, Calvin Abueva and Ian Sangalang, whom you cut after refusing to report for practice, thinking that they were sacred cows.

That's exactly what we need. A head coach with balls. Another Rajko Toroman.

Norman, you are what this country needs. Being a national team head coach is a full-time job, it is more of mentoring rather than coaching, guiding and loving rather than screaming and commanding.

You have what it takes to continue Toroman's legacy – believe me.

Keep your head high,

Brutus

***

Dear Brutus,

After everything was said and done, do you think I have another solid chance of winning the next POC election?

Thanks in advance,

JCJ of Hacienda Luisita

Dear JCJ of Hacienda, Luisita,

You want a straight answer, Peping Cojuangco? Okay, it's a yes. You do have a solid chance of winning in the next POC elections.

As you see, you have eliminated all your detractors. You had Art Macapagal packing his bags, Celso Dayrit stepping down as fencing boss, Harry Angping kicked out of the PSC and the naughty Go Teng Kok without anybody to lean on after bringing you to court.

You turned the POC into your own little kingdom with Mark Joseph, Julian Camacho, Jeff Tamayo and former Go allies Sim Chi Tat and Mario Tanchangco as your loyal disciples. You are now the emperor –just like your most influential nephew, President Noynoy Aquino, who wants to control the remaining independent branch of government – the judiciary – only to save Hacienda Luisita from crashing down and being awarded to helpless farmers.

Nobody ever wants to oppose you, Peping. Those who dare will either be kicked out of the POC or be slapped with a court case.

Even the powerful corporate bloc in the POC general assembly – the group of NSAs controlled by industrialist Manny Pangilinan – is having second thoughts in running against you, knowing that the POC is not a corporate board room where brilliant ideas, flowery presentations, and savvy money-making initiatives can do wonders to uplift the organization.

They know that the POC is an old boys club. It's like the Lower House in the '80s which you controlled with an iron-hand rule. It's an organization geared towards dirty politics, mud-slinging and political maneuvering – something where you and your boys are good at.

You are now very powerful, Peping. You are unbeatable.

Cheers,

Brutus