Sonny Alvarado's case with the Bureau of Immigration and Tanduay's dilemma with the PBA are expected to take a new twist today when the cager and the team management go through separate process with a singular purpose of ending the controversy that has jeopardized Tanduay's title bid in the PBA All-Filipino Cup.
Alvarado, found to have submitted fraudulent documents to back his claim for Philippine citizenship, is expected to present his defense to prove why he should not be deported for falsification of documents when he appears before the BI board at 10 a.m. today.
Almost at the same time at the Century Park Sheraton, the Tanduay management will be holding a press conference, probably to contest the PBA ruling last week stating that the team would forfeit its won games in the semis if Alvarado is found guilty of the charges against him.
League sources said that the management has found a loophole in the resolution and will contest it in a bid to ensure its stint in the final of the PBA's season-opening conference. The Rhum Masters swept the Purefoods Hotdogs in their best-of-five series last Sunday.
That ambiguity in the ruling, the same sources added, prompted the team management to let Alvarado play in Games 2 and 3 of the semis series, a move that drew varied reactions from all sectors since it was construed as a clear defiance of the PBA Commissioner's Office order.
But observers believed Tanduay has a case in hand, citing the fact that Alvarado was not a direct Fil-Am hire but one who passed through the PBA amateur draft.
"If he is a direct Fil-Am hire and is found ineligible to play, the team should be held responsible for the action and that would justify the forfeiture of the team's won games. But since Alvarado passed through the draft, the PBA should've checked whether his papers were in order, hence it should be the league, and not the team, that should be held liable for the fiasco," said one observer.
The PBA actually has an earlier ruling stating results of games played by a Fil-foreigner player will stand even after he is found to be ineligible to play in the league, as in the case of Mobiline's Asi Taulava.
But PBA commissioner Jun Bernardino said the league is taking a different stand on Alvarado's case, saying while Taulava's case is a mere suspicion on his citizenship, Alvarado's is a criminal case involving falsification of public documents.
Still, Alvarado has a lot of explaining to do, especially after acting BI commissioner Linda Hornilla had said that the main issue in cager's case now is not his Filipino lineage but the charge of falsification of documents which, if proven, can lead to his deportation for being an undesirable alien.
Hornilla said there's no need for Alvarado to prove his citizenship as the bureau has sufficient documents to make a decision on the player's case.