Alapag finally sees green light

U.S.-born Jimmy Alapag was cleared to play for Selecta in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Samsung Governors Cup by the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday.

Alapag’s agent Chiqui de la Rosa told The STAR he got a call from a reliable source confirming the clearance.

De la Rosa confided that Alapag was all set to pack up and leave after waiting over a month for his DOJ clearance. But PBA governor and treasurer Casiano Cabalan, who represents Barangay Ginebra in the Board, persuaded Alapag to hold on.

"Jimmy thought there were forces working to keep him out of the national pool," said De la Rosa. "He’s been so dedicated. He wakes up at 5:30 every morning to be at practice two hours before call time. He just couldn’t understand why his clearance was being held particularly as his papers were in order. If the clearance hadn’t come, he would’ve left this weekend."

Because Alapag is undrafted and earns no salary from a PBA mother team, he’s been living off the P500 practice allowance and De la Rosa’s generosity since arriving last January on coach Ron Jacobs’ invitation to try out for the national team bound for the Busan Asian Games this September. Last Monday, Cabalan assured Alapag he would receive P100,000 a month for his participation in the national pool.

"The other guys in the pool knew what Jimmy was going through," said De la Rosa. "Eric (Menk) and the Seigles offered to tide him over. After practice, the coaching staff would put up some money for a free throw contest and Jimmy made sure he won each time. He never felt so humiliated in his life. He roomed with (Sta. Lucia import) Lelan McDougal at the start but when McDougal was cut, he moved in with me. We are so grateful that Mr. Cabalan and Commissioner (Jun) Bernardino agreed to help out Jimmy since after all, his papers were in order and it was a matter of survival."

De la Rosa said a few weeks ago, Bernardino called Alapag, Chris Clay and Jeffrey Flowers – the national pool Fil-Am invitees without DOJ clearance – for a meeting to assess their situation. "The Commissioner told Clay and Flowers their papers weren’t in order and offered to pay for their plane fares to go back to the U.S. and gather the documents to prove their Filipino heritage," said De la Rosa. "Obviously, there was nothing Clay and Flowers could do. So they abandoned the national pool and are back in the MBA (Metropolitan Basketball Association). As for Jimmy, the Commissioner confirmed his papers were in order so there was nothing left for him to do to prove his roots. We were just waiting for the DOJ clearance." - Joaquin Henson