SBP, Jinggoy pursue cage unity

With great difficulty and with or without the Basketball Association of the Philippines, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas will continue with its efforts to solve and eradicate all the problems besetting the sport in the country.

In a packed press conference that looked more like a basketball convention, the men behind the SBP, led by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, businessman Manny V. Pangilinan and Ateneo’s Jose Capistrano, showed what unity is all about.

"This is the easier and less challenging part. The most difficult part still lies ahead," said Pangilinan, the chairman of telecommunication giants PLDT and Smart, in his opening speech at the posh Makati Shangri-la Hotel.

"And the SBP’s first move is to go to FIBA (International Basketball Federation) and file a formal application for accreditation," added MVP, hoping for a very favorable response from the world governing body in the sport.

The FIBA placed the Philippines under suspension almost two years ago, and is just waiting for the creation of a new, unified association that would take the place of the BAP and Pilipinas Basketball before it lifts the suspension.

"Then we will go to the Philippine Olympic Committee for a collateral accreditation and Mr. Jose Cojuangco (POC president) has given us the assurance that it will be forthcoming," said Pangilinan.

The PLDT chair is poised to assume the role of SBP president, and Estrada the chairman. The other officers should be known when the SBP holds its first congress later this month or early February.

The conference was graced by the big names in Philippine basketball — from Ricky Vargas, Noli Eala, Chino Trinidad, Jun Bernardino, Ely Capacio, Frankie Lim, Bernie Atienza, Tony Chua, Ricky Palou, Nic Jorge, Anton Montinola, Chot Reyes and Norman Black, former superstars Samboy Lim, Allan Caidic and Hector Calma to present stars Asi Taulava, Rommel Adducul and Jimmy Alapag.

The BAP executive board, led by its controversial secretary-general Graham Lim, earlier fired Estrada just four months after the same group installed him as BAP president.

The BAP hard-liners claimed that Estrada "acted on his own" in forging the agreement with Pangilinan without consulting them.

Estrada said he will continue to act as a member of the three-man panel that will see to it that lasting peace and unity is forged within the Filipino basketball community.

"I am here not anymore as president of the BAP but as your senator and a basketball-loving citizen," said the sports-minded senator and son of former President Joseph Estrada.

"And I feel that it is my duty to continue the objectives of the Tokyo agreement," he added, referring to an agreement that was sealed among the BAP and PB last August, calling for the creation of a new association, in this case the SBP.

"It is with total dismay that we have failed to compete in international tournaments like the (2005) SEA Games and (2006) Asian Games," added Estrada.

Estrada said that when he assumed the role as BAP president by acclamation, he assumed that he had a free hand to make important decisions.

"I told them before that as BAP president, if I will decide then it’s for the best interest of the BAP and for the greater number of the Filipino people. Yes, I decided on my own but I think I will never go wrong with this," he stressed.

Like Pangilinan, Estrada said he is keeping his line open for the BAP.

"I’m not questioning the wisdom of the BAP. In fact I’m even trying to convince them to join the SBP with the promise of equal distribution of the different working committees," added Estrada.

"I don’t know who instigated my ouster. In fact, I talked to the BAP people that I was coming to this press conference. All of them supported me except for one. But I’d rather not divulge his or her name but it’s a three-letter name and I’ll take care of that," he said.