Cases must be dropped first—Jalasco

Court cases that were filed at the height of the leadership dispute within the Basketball Association of the Philippines will first have to be dropped before the representatives from the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) could come over to decide on the issue.

Freddie Jalasco, chief of mission of the RP delegation to the Kuala Lumpur Games scheduled Sept. 8 to 17, said it would be useless for the FIBA and IOC to mediate in the eight-month-old dispute if there are pending cases on the court.

"They cannot step in with these court cases still being heard because they might be cited for contempt. So, the cases will have to be dropped first before they could come over," Jalasco told The STAR yesterday. "It’s now up to the group led by Tiny Literal to drop the cases."

Literal’s group, which is disputing the BAP presidency with the other faction now led by Gonzalo "Lito" Puyat have filed a couple of cases before the Parañaque and Manila courts. Puyat’s group had also filed a motion of appeal but did so only after the Manila judge Artemio Tipon upheld Literal’s election last June 20.

"What the Puyat group filed was a simple motion for appeal. So if Literal’s group decides to drop the cases they filed against the BAP and the Philippine Olympic Committee, automatically dropped na din ang appeal ng group ni Puyat," said Jalasco.

The FIBA and the IOC last month gave the two groups until Aug. 31 to settle the issue among themselves or they will be forced to make their own decision. It would eventually lift the FIBA suspension on the BAP and the pave the way for the country’s participation in the basketball competitions in Kuala Lumpur.

"Since mukhang hindi na talaga kayang mag-unite ng dalawang groups and settle the issue among themselves, the clear solution to this issue would be the FIBA and IOC decision. But the court cases, again, must first be dropped. Literal last week agreed to the FIBA and IOC proposal to mediate but did not specify if his group was willing to drop the court cases. "Legal matters na kasi ’yan that’s why hindi lang ako ang puwede mag-decide," he said.