Tanduay Ouster Up? PBA Meets To Okay Sanctions

The PBA Board of Governors is scheduled to tackle only financial matters but may well delve on the legal battle the league is facing at the moment as it holds its regular monthly meeting at the Manila Golf Club tonight.

Outside of its regular agenda, the board is expected to decide what sanctions it could impose on Tanduay Rhum even as the Commissioner's Office seeks a court injunction to nullify a temporary restraining order which led to the postponement of games in the All-Filipino Cup.

The PBA has already skipped two playdates, losing millions in projected earnings from gate receipts and advertising, as Tanduay Rhum, armed with a TRO, would not abide by a league verdict forfeiting the team's two won games over Purefoods in their best-of-five semifinals playoff following the Bureau of Immigration's deportation order on Sonny Alvarado.

The latest word from the Basic Holdings Corp., the franchise holder of Tanduay, is that it will now contest the PBA ruling all the way even if it means expulsion from the league

Tanduay, through team manager David de Joya, had made two suggestions to break the impasse but both didn't sit well with PBA Commissioner Jun Bernardino who reversed the results of Games Two and Three -- both won by Tanduay -- giving Purefoods a 2-1 lead in the playoff.

The board has given its full support behind the commissioner, with chairman Wilfred Steven Uytengsu warning Tanduay that it would face stiff sanction if it did not return to the playing court.

A league insider didn't discount the possibility of expulsion, suspension or a heavy fine against Tanduay.

PBA legal counsel Butch Cleofe said Tanduay violated the PBA Constitution and By-Laws by bringing the case to the judicial court. Cleofe said the PBA has its own rules and the exercise of its prerogative to enforce its own rules in the conduct of tournaments and the determination of elegibility should not be interfered with by the judiciary.

Not a single team in the 26-year existence of the league has broken the rule, according to Cleofe.

Another PBA source said league officials aren't discounting the possibility of Viva TV joining the fray, with the television outfit, which holds the rights to air PBA games, adversely affected by the impasse.