Red Bull to appeal case

Red Bull is reportedly poised to appeal the severe sanction it incurred in the aftermath of its walkout attempt Sunday and determined to finish its battle on the playing court versus San Miguel Beer today.

Sources said the team will appeal the case following an opinion by former PBA legal counsel Atty. Butch Cleofe that the league erred on its decision to fine the team for its aborted walkout Sunday.

Cleofe, who helped draft the rules pertaining to walkout shortly after Anejo Rum did it in 1990, said there was no walkout since Red Bull came back in time to finish the match.

However, current PBA legal counsel Melvin Mendoza said PBA commissioner Noli Eala was justified in imposing the heavy fines, saying Guiao’s order to walk out was an "act that was clearly inimical and detrimental to the interest of the league and will never be tolerated."

Mendoza clarified that Red Bull was not fined for refusing to finish the game because it did finish it, unlike the contest where Añejo Rhum refused to resume its game against Shell. Under the PBA constitution, a team which refuses to play is subjected to a fine of P500,000.

He added that the order of Guiao for his team and officials to go to the dug-out is not specified as a violation of the PBA rules. He stressed that "in such a situation, and when no specific penalty is imposed for a particular act, the Commissioner is fully authorized to determine the appropriate penalty as may be warranted by the situation."

Mendoza noted that if Red Bull really had any serious objections to the officiating during the game, no formal protest was ever filed by the team after the game in accordance with the rules. The hefty penalty on Red Bull was imposed also to deter other teams from doing similar acts in the future, without any prejudice to any action that the teams may wish to impose on their errant coaches and players, he said.

Red Bull said it would seek reconsideration of the decision to fine the ball club P400,000 and Guiao P100,000 for the aborted walkout.

Guiao said it’s now up to the Red Bull management on what course of action to make. "It’s no longer in my level. Our bosses are the ones taking care of the matter," he said.

Meanwhile, Guiao said the Bulls would continue to use the incident as a rallying point as they try to deal San Miguel the killer blow today in their Gran Matador Brandy PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinal showdown at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Stalled the last time out, the Alaska Milk Aces, meanwhile, take their second crack at closing their own semis series with the Purefoods Chunkee Giants.

If Red Bull and Alaska fail to finish off their rivals, the deciding Game Seven is set Sunday also at the Pasay City venue.

The Giants and the Beermen vowed to give their best shots to force sudden deaths.

"It takes four games to win series. Until they take that fourth game, we’ll go out and give them a good fight," said Purefoods coach Ryan Gregorio.