Is Alvarado back?

Disgraced Tanduay Fil-sham Earl (Sonny) Alvarado was rumored to be back in town, supposedly awaiting Department of Justice (DOJ) clearance to resume playing as a Fil-Am in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Could this be true?

In 1999, Alvarado got a Bureau of Immigration (BI) endorsement on his alleged Fil-Am status after submitting a birth certificate that indicated his mother was born a Filipina. He averaged 22.9 points and 13.1 rebounds as a Tanduay rookie that year. Alvarado led the league in scoring and ranked second in rebounding.

Then, the cat jumped out of the bag. An enterprising PBA team official found out the birth certificate that Alvarado presented to the BI as his mother’s was tampered. Alvarado never bothered to defend himself against the charge of falsifying a public document and let his lawyers do the talking. In the end, he was deported.

Alvarado was unmasked before the start of the All-Filipino semifinals last year. He insisted on playing two semifinal games for Tanduay despite the BI expose, confident his lawyers would find a way to wiggle him out of the mess. But alas, the charge stuck and Tanduay forfeited the two semifinal wins where Alvarado played.

When Alvarado left, he didn’t seem remorseful at all. For over a year, he fooled the Filipino people into thinking he was a Fil-Am, that he had come back to discover his "roots." He should’ve been locked up and forced to return the money he earned for playing in the league.

Fil-shams should be hung and quartered. They’re not only making a mockery of Philippine law — they’re also robbing the team that’s paying their salaries (the assumption is, of course, the team is not a party to the masquerade). Worse, they’re disenfranchising legitimate Filipino players who would otherwise be filling their roster spots.

Talk ‘N Text’s Asi Taulava was also deported but under different circumstances. Then-BI Commissioner Rufus Rodriguez found nothing anomalous in what Taulava submitted — it was just that Rodriguez couldn’t be convinced of his Filipino heritage since his alleged Filipino mother’s birth certificate was missing. Taulava even brought in his mother from Tonga to be personally interrogated by BI lawyers.

Maybe, Alvarado got wind of Taulava’s return which rekindled his hopes of a comeback. But their cases are entirely different. Alvarado falsified a public document while Taulava never did anything to violate the law.

Sta. Lucia Realty assistant coach Alfrancis Chua, who called the shots for Tanduay during Alvarado’s stint, said the rumor couldn’t be true. Chua said he asked Tanduay star Eric Menk about it. "Eric should know — Sonny and he are always in contact with each other," noted Chua. "Eric told me no way."

There have been reported sightings of Alvarado jogging around town. But is he really back?

"In two weeks, Alvarado will be playing in the PBA," said a league insider.

If that’s so, then Alvarado did something magical to convince the DOJ that his mother’s birth document wasn’t falsified.

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Sean Chambers isn’t the only PBA veteran in the basketball uniform business. San Miguel Beer import Lamont Strothers owns the company that provides the Hampton Roads, Virginia, Pro-Am Summer League’s jerseys, reported Ryan Jones in Slam Magazine (Nov. 2001).

"Strothers played 13 games with the Blazers and Mavs in the early ’90s and he’s been a star in the PBA the past few years," wrote Jones. "But his real legacy is as a Hampton Roads lifer. The former D3 (Division III) All-America has averaged roughly 40 points a game at the Pro-Am — for the past 10 years.

Former PBA player Yves Dignadice is in Los Angeles trying to make a living. A friend said he is applying for a job in a security agency. Dignadice, once the league’s most popular star because of his good looks, is down on his luck. He didn’t save a centavo from what he earned as a basketball star and left behind his son Bryce in Manila.

Before leaving for the US, a source confided that several of Dignadice’s friends — including Ron Jacobs and Allan Caidic — contributed to a kitty to tide him over.

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NOTES: Cool it, folks.

A fan wearing a green shirt pulled down the collar of PBA Commissioner Jun Bernardino’s son Nolan at the height of an Ateneo rally in Game 2 of the UAAP Finals at the Big Dome last Thursday. Nolan sat in front of the fan at courtside and leaped to his feet to applaud the Eagles. Obviously irked at the turn of events, the fan got up and yanked Nolan back to his seat. Comish, who was beside his son, looked back and calmly told the fan to just ask his son to sit down — if he obstructed his view — instead of pulling him down by force. The fan apologized.

Ateneo coach Joe Lipa was brutally heckled by a trash-talking fan from start to finish of Game 2. At the final buzzer, a victorious Lipa turned to the heckler with his usual crinkled forehead as if to say, "What now?" Lipa was so consumed by the heckler that he failed to spot La Salle coach Franz Pumaren approaching him to shake his hand. So they never shook hands.

Believe it or not, Ateneo took 40 free throws, converting 24, compared to La Salle’s 10-of-15 foul shots in Game 2. It was only La Salle’s third loss to Ateneo in nine games the last three years. Pumaren recalled that Ateneo beat the Archers by scoring over 30 points from the line on about 44 fouls in 1999. Last year, the Eagles netted 26 points from free throws on 43 fouls to beat La Salle.

Vintage’s Carlos (Bobong) Velez, a product of both La Salle and Ateneo, wore blue for Game 1 and green for Game 2. La Salle fans are begging Velez to wear blue while Ateneo fans are pleading for him to wear green for Game 3.