BAP office stays locked despite FIBA nod

The Basketball Association of the Philippines office at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex will remain padlocked for as long as the country has no basketball body and a set of officers acceptable to everyone.

The BAP office at the second floor of the Philippine Sports Commission administrative building was padlocked last month as a result of the raging dispute between the BAP and the Philippine Olympic Committee.

Not even the lifting of the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) suspension on the Philippines would mean that the BAP office should be opened for those who used to occupy it.

"Even if the suspension is lifted, the BAP office will remain padlocked. While the BAP enjoys the recognition of FIBA, it’s no longer a member of the POC," said PSC legal counsel Maribel Rodriguez.

"A national sports association (NSA) needs both the recognition of its international federation and the POC for it to enjoy certain privileges from the PSC, like the use of an office," Rodriguez added.

Pilipinas Basketball is poised to take over the BAP. It already has the blessings of the POC despite the fact that it still has yet to name or elect its set of officers. As for FIBA, it remains in the outer circle.

"As long as we don’t have a basketball association recognized both by FIBA and the POC, nobody can and will occupy that office," said PSC commissioner Richie Garcia who handles NSA affairs.

Last Friday, BAP president and former Senator Joey Lina announced that FIBA Asia has approved a resolution calling on the FIBA Central Board in Switzerland to lift the suspension on the Philippines.

Lina said it’s just a matter of time before the suspension, handed down almost a year ago, is lifted. He expects the FIBA Central Board to act on it in August when it convenes in Japan.

Once the suspension is lifted, the BAP will bat for its reinstatement in the POC, which voted unanimously (33-of-38) for the expulsion of the 70-year-old association.

But the POC is not going to bend backwards, maintaining that the BAP no longer exists.

"Of course, the POC wants the ban to be lifted and it should support any effort towards that direction. But it should be clear to the public that the beneficiary is the Philippines and not any particular party," said POC lawyer Ding Tanjuatco.

He cited the memorandum of understanding signed by POC head Jose Cojuangao and FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann last year, where the BAP was described as a "suspended member of FIBA."

"Mr. Lina wants our public to think that the lifting of ban against the Philippines is tantamount to the lifting of the suspension against the BAP by the FIBA," said Tanjuatco.