Purefoods fate known today

San Miguel Corp. top honchos have reportedly got affirmative answers from majority of the PBA team owners and may get the needed number of votes when the PBA board of governors decides the fate of the Purefoods franchise today.

Purefoods, a former Ayala Group food company now under the giant SMC umbrella, needs a two-third vote of the board or it will have its PBA franchise bidding goodbye to the league at the end of the season.

A PBA official said Purefoods might stay in the league beyond the season after all but it would go through the proverbial eye of the needle in the board meeting set to start at 5 p.m. at the Manila Golf Club.

The same official said the board had been suddenly divided in the issue after the SMC bigwigs reportedly entered into the picture and talked directly with team owners — not just the governors - to get their yes votes.

Earlier, most of the governors whom The Star talked to were saying Purefoods’ appeal is headed for doom.

Before the weekend, SMC has reportedly mustered the votes of everybody except two teams, and it would already be enough for Purefoods to get its franchise extension.

Purefoods, of course, is assured of two votes from San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra. It should have won the vote of RFM Corp. by now too with SMC and the Concepcions now in the process of finalizing their Cosmos Bottling Corp. purchase deal.

Shell’s board representative Rey Gamboa is abroad but is reportedly set to fax his proxy vote to the SMC people. However, there were also reports that the other group is persuading Gamboa to give to them instead his proxy vote. A Commissioner’s Office staffer said only board members are allowed to cast their votes.

Apparently, other board members have decided to approve the Purefoods appeal to avoid complicating the problem since there’s a legal opinion that SMC can opt not to sell its third franchise and fight to keep its players in its fold assuming the Purefoods appeal is turned down.

"The argument here is that SMC didn’t disband Purefoods, the PBA did. SMC will honor Purefoods’ obligations to its players, so SMC has the rights to them," said the PBA source.