BAP seeks unity with POC, other cage bodies

While addressing the issues that were hurled against it, the Basketball Association of the Philippines, now under the leadership of Joey Lina, is also reaching out to the Philippine Olympic Committee and the rest of the country’s biggest stakeholders in basketball.

Lina, the former senator and secretary of interior and local governments, yesterday said the BAP is doing its best to show the Filipino sports community that it’s back on its feet, performing its duties and responsibilities both locally and internationally.

"We have to achieve unity and that’s what’s important. We will use all avenues to achieve unity and cooperation," said Lina who was recently elected BAP president despite the fact that the association is under suspension from the POC led by Jose "Peping" Cojuangco.

"What is important is unity because if we don’t have it, we are setting a very bad example. Changes are being institutionalized within the BAP. And hopefully, this thing will be settled amicably. There is nothing that cannot be solved," added Lina, also the former Laguna governor.

The POC placed the BAP under indefinite suspension for the latter’s apparent failure to honor a commitment forged with the other stakeholders on the formation of the national team to at least two international tournaments this year — the SEABA Championships in August and the SEA Games in November.

The POC has also threatened to expel the BAP and in its place install a new association, the Basketball Federation of the Philippines, Inc. which has representations with the PBA, PBL, UAAP, NCAA and a couple more stakeholders.

The POC general assembly will convene on June 30 upon the arrival of Cojuangco from the US. The GA may come to a vote where it would need 30 of the 39 voting members to formally expel the BAP from its roster.

Lina said things doesn’t have to come to this, explaining that the fact that the BAP now under a new set of officers and performing its duties should work well for its continued existence. He said he wrote the POC a letter last week asking that the suspension be lifted.

""We will seek an audience with Mr. Cojuangco and ask him to lift the suspension. I’ll explain to him what we’ve done to institute changes. The BAP leadership is now responding to the demands of the times. I will reiterate to Mr. Cojuangco our request that the suspension be lifted," Lina added.

"Even in the Bible, the prodigal son was allowed to return home," he said.

Aside from Lina, who took over Tiny Literal, other new faces at the BAP brass are Lito Alvarez of Air 21, deputy secretary-general; former POC president Cristy Jalasco, director of its women’s commission; Wilson Young of Tanduay, director; and cagers Fritz Gaston and Gerry Codiñera as board members.

As it is, the BAP probably has the best array of officers compared to the other national sports associations or NSAs.