Alvarez staying with Pasig Pirates

High-flying cager Bong Alvarez denied recent reports that he is negotiating with Alaska Milk for his return to the PBA. The 32-year-old Alvarez, dubbed Mr. Excitement since barging into the pros in 1989, said he was willing to finish the one year remaining in his contract with Pasig-Rizal in the MBA, this despite the fact that the Pirates have not yet paid his last two-and-a-half-months salary. Pasig-Rizal and ABS-CBN are each paying Alvarez P250,000 monthly.

Alaska team manager Joaqui Trillo, for his part, said the Aces were merely considering hiring Alvarez since he had played with them before (from 1989-92) and as a contingency measure just in case they are not able to retain the services of Kenneth Duremdes.

"There weren’t any negotiations with Bong (Alvarez). I only said we were considering him, just in case," Trillo said.

Alvarez, who averaged 17.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.5 steals with the Pirates last season, said he was merely practicing with some of the PBA teams at random these last few weeks to keep himself in shape, with the MBA teams still on vacation since the league’s 2001 season doesn’t start until April. His appearances on some of the PBA teams’ practices, Alvarez said, may have given some quarters the idea that he was shopping around for a PBA team.

Aside from Alaska, Alvarez also played for Sta. Lucia, Shell, San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra in the PBA before becoming an unrestricted free agent in 1999 and jumping over to the MBA to play for Pampanga and Pasig-Rizal.