National embarrassment

Can you imagine if two Philippine national teams show up to play in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) championships in Kuala Lumpur starting Tuesday?

What an embarrassment to the flag. It would be a clear affirmation of what our neighboring countries knew all along–that in the Philippines, conflict is the rule because in a culture of corruption, the lust for power is the primary motivating force.

For the expelled Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) to insist on sending its own team to the SEABA joust is an expression of stubborn resistance to the rule of law.

Whether you like it or not, the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) expelled the BAP as the country’s National Sports Association (NSA) without overstepping its authority and in keeping with the principle of due process. All the legal requisites and the stipulations of the POC Constitution and By-Laws were followed to the letter before the axe finally fell on the BAP. The decision was not dictatorial. A vote was cast and it was overwhelmingly in favor of expulsion.

While the decision may have been triggered or prompted by that infamous Cebuana Lhuillier defeat to the Parañaque Jets in the finals of a bush league, it was something that was long overdue. For decades, the POC tolerated the BAP’s incompetence, wrong-doing and shameful display of ineptitude without concern for the country’s interest or pride. The defeat to the Jets was the last straw.

The argument that other NSAs are worse off and should’ve been first in the priority list for expulsion is beside the point. What is at issue is the BAP, nothing else. Other NSAs similarly situated will have their day. It’s not surprising that BAP was prioritized because basketball is closest to the Filipino fans’ hearts and there are implications in the country’s aspirations to qualify for the 2006 World Championships and 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Drafting Sen. Joey Lina and others to keep the sinking BAP ship afloat was clearly a desperate measure to avert expulsion. It was so unfair to Sen. Lina to put him on the spot. And to his credit, Sen. Lina tried to plead the BAP’s case for reconsideration with sincerity. But the appeal came too late because the BAP had shot itself in both feet long, long before.

Instead of giving in to public clamor, the BAP wants to stay on. Whatever happened to delicadeza or has that now been outlawed by government’

Instead of helping out the POC in carrying out its mandate, the BAP is calling on its allies in FIBA (Federation Internationale de Basketball)-Asia to stay its execution. Until and unless FIBA strips the BAP of recognition as its Philippine affiliate, it remains so.

But in Section 6 of the FIBA Constitution and By-Laws, it is provided that a country affiliate must be recognized by its National Olympic Committee. It therefore follows that since the POC has withdrawn recognition from the BAP, the BAP has necessarily lost its claim to be a FIBA country affiliate.

At presstime, the FIBA-Asia Executive Board was locked in a meeting in Kuala Lumpur to take up, among other things, the ticklish Philippine situation. The word is FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann of Switzerland flew in to attend the meeting.

A POC official said whatever is decided on the FIBA-Asia level is binding, at least for the SEABA tournament. It was expected that FIBA-Asia secretary-general Dato Yeoh Choo Hock will announce continuing recognition of the BAP until there is a decision to the contrary made by FIBA. The problem is FIBA will not likely make a decision until it convenes its own Executive Board.

The worst thing that could happen is because of the conflict in the Philippine situation, FIBA-Asia will bar the national team from participating in the SEABA tournament as a disciplinary measure for unruly or unsportsmanlike behavior.

Suspension isn’t far-fetched because the voting countries in the region gain something with the Philippines’ exclusion from the SEABA competition. The Philippines is expected to finish top two in the tournament and advance to the FIBA-Asia Championships in Doha in September. If the Philippines is disqualified, another Southeast Asian country will qualify in its place. So it’s likely Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia–all contenders–will not be sympathetic to the Philippines’ cause.

POC president Jose Cojuangco, Jr. has gone the extra mile to inform FIBA and FIBA-Asia authorities about what’s going on in the Philippines. As far as Cojuangco is concerned, all bases have been covered as regards abiding by what is the law. But in the end, it’s still up to the FIBA and FIBA-Asia powers to give their blessings, one way or the other.

It was right for the POC to bite the bullet once and for all as an example to NSAs that Cojuangco’s administration will not tolerate double-talk, shenanigans and unpatriotic behavior. But the cost will be heavy if the Philippines is not allowed to play in the SEABA tournament and therefore, disqualified from participating in the FIBA-Asia Championships in Doha.

The BAP is prepared to send a team to Kuala Lumpur. Boysie Zamar has promised a championship, no less, with a roster comprising the likes of Nino Canaleta and pro veterans Chris Cantonjos, Ricky Calimag, Ruben de la Rosa and Chito Victolero. Obviously, it’s not a developmental team because several players are journeymen. It’s a team that was formed to salvage BAP pride, nothing else.

The question is–should salvaging BAP pride be a national concern at all?