Verdict on Red Bull stays

PBA commissioner Jun Bernardino, in a meeting with the league board of governors Monday night, said the verdict on the Kerby Raymundo case was "final and unappealable," dashing Red Bull's hopes to regain two victories it lost by forfeiture in the wake of the controversy.

The PBA board met for nearly five hours at the Manila Golf Club but barely touched on the Raymundo case the moment Bernardino stressed he's standing firm on his decision to suspend the player and forfeit Red Bull's won games where the erring Bataan lad played.

The Red Bull franchise earlier sought reconsideration on the decision on the two games won by the team in the current conference after the Raymundo controversy had surfaced.

In the same meeting, the board asked the Commissioner's Office to put up a system to strictly enforce the salary cap rule, perhaps because of suspicion that there are ballclubs violating the scheme.

There were ballclubs reportedly questioning the pay scale imposed by Mobiline and Tanduay following aggressive player recruitment in the off-season involving marquee cagers.

Mobiline signed up Vic Pablo, Jherome Ejercito, Bong Ravena and Don Camaso while Tanduay took in Jeffrey Cariaso, Rudy Hatfield and Dondon Hontiveros.

PBA teams are not allowed to exceed over P33 million in their payroll the whole year.

At the same time, the board formalized its contract with Viva-Vintage Sports for the exclusive broadcast coverage of PBA games for the next three years.

The PBA signed the contract despite news that GMA 7 filed charges against IBC 13 officials in connection with the bidding for the TV coverage of the games late last year.

Meanwhile, whether Red Bull continues to play like a wounded tiger will be known today when it goes up against San Miguel Beer at the resumption of Alaxan PBA All-Filipino Cup action at the Philsports Arena.