Drug crackdown

Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner Noli Eala means business. No pussyfooting. No kid gloves treatment. Yesterday, he initiated a mandatory drug-testing procedure to cover players, coaches and even ballboys of every PBA team in the most serious effort ever launched by the league to weed out users.

Eala himself will be subjected to a drug test. All individuals employed by the PBA will also be tested. Statisticians, table officials, barkers, secretaries–no one will be spared. Eala’s crackdown is all-encompassing. You can’t get more thorough than that. Obviously, Eala wants to establish a clear and clean starting point–he wants to set the benchmark.

Before the season started, the Games and Amusements Board required every player to submit to a drug test before he could be issued a professional license. The mandatory testing was supervised by PBA physician Dr. Ben Salud. The examination found two players, Asi Taulava and Dorian Peña, positive for marijuana. They were slapped a two-game suspension apiece and warned that a more severe penalty will be meted if they test positive again.

The reason why Taulava and Peña were not suspended indefinitely is because of the drug they took. Marijuana is not in the same dangerous category as cocaine, shabu, ecstacy or steroids. Jimwell Torion, Alex Crisano, and Norman Gonzalez were suspended indefinitely because they were found positive for the "hard stuff."

But Eala ordered that Taulava and Peña must be tested for drug use after every game to make sure they remain clean.

It will take a week to finish the mandatory testing conducted during unannounced visits at team practices. Department of Health (DOH) agents will examine the urine samples using a pre-testing kit (good for single use at P150 each). If a sample is found positive with the kit, it is sent to the state-of-the-art Philippine National Police (PNP) lab for confirmation.

Before Eala’s crackdown, the PBA did random testing on two players each team every playing day, meaning eight samples were examined. A bingo-style selection process was used to determine which players would be tested with the pre-testing kit. Of the eight samples, only four were actually tested in another random selection.

But in line with Eala’s crackdown, all eight samples are now being tested. Taulava and Pena are added to the list of examinees whenever they play.

Incidentally, testers are not aware of whose samples are being examined. Dr. Salud and his staff code the urine samples. When the PNP lab technicians submit a positive finding, they have no idea whose sample it was they examined.

PBA technical director Perry Martinez, who is in charge of the league’s anti-drug policy, said a player who tests positive has the right to demand a retest but the same sample will be examined. The player may ask for his sample to be reexamined by another laboratory accredited by the DOH.

Martinez said Gonzalez and Crisano denied taking the drugs they tested positive for. They claimed food supplements in their diet could have led to the positive results. As of yesterday, neither has formally requested for a retest.

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Ricky Vargas, Talk ‘N’ Text’s representative in the PBA Board of Governors, said he never thought his involvement in the league would be more stressful than tackling the labor problems of a large corporation like PLDT. But of course, it has its blessings.

For one, Vargas said the Board is made up of professionals with extensive managerial experience. The resources available to the Board are awesome.

"We are a collegial body," he explained. "We represent individual franchises but we are one league." Vargas said he subscribes to the idea of debating an issue to its final conclusion in order to arrive at a consensus among the Governors.

Vargas said to dispel the notion that the PBA is a "San Miguel league," there should be an effort to disclose matters–that could be subject to misinterpretation–to the public. For instance, he referred to the Estong Ballesteros case. Ballesteros, formerly of Coca-Cola, was released and picked up by Barangay Ginebra as a free agent.

"The fans might get the wrong impression that because Coca-Cola and Ginebra are related, Ballesteros was moved from one to another," he noted. "The fans must be told that Ballesteros was placed on the waiver list for 10 working days, available to any team, before Ginebra signed him up."

The bottom line, he continued, is all about transparency and good governance.

Vargas said PBA Chairman Casiano (Jun) Cabalan, Jr. is on the right track in pushing for the league’s own stadium. "That would be the Chairman’s legacy," he added.

Vargas admitted he was sanctioned by the Board for mouthing off to the press on the controversial Ginebra-Talk ‘N’ Text game (later ordered to be played) and the letter of credit issue involving the NBN/IBC consortium. But he denied going against Cabalan in media. "That’s not my style," he said.

Vargas joined the Board last year and said he serves at the pleasure of his boss, team owner Manny Pangilinan. For as long as he’s on the Board, Vargas said he will do his best to support the development of the league.

As regards Eala, Vargas said he’s doing a good job. "He’s introduced a lot of good changes, new ideas," he noted. "He’s a good listener, too, and he speaks his mind."

On the PBA’s anti-drug policy, Vargas said PLDT–on its own–is studying ways to improve the testing procedures, checking out the latest techniques, making sure the results are foolproof, and consulting with lawyers on the implications of testing positive.