Another FIBA suspension?
FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann is once again being deluged by position papers, appeals and letters from disgruntled Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) officials claiming to be disenfranchised by leaders of the BAP-Samahang Basketbol Ng Pilipinas (SBP).
If we’re not careful, Baumann might just run out of patience and slap another suspension on the
Clearly, this squabbling has to stop, once and for all. Despite the writing on the wall, the BAP refuses to die a natural death. As far as the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is concerned, the BAP is a non-entity. In fact, the POC expelled the BAP from its rolls as the National Sports Association (NSA) for basketball and in its place, took in the BAP-SBP.
One of the conditions FIBA set in lifting the country’s two-year suspension was POC recognition of a basketball body as an NSA. That body turned out to be the BAP-SBP which is supported by the country’s major leagues, including the PBA, PBL, UAAP and NCAA.
To set the BAP-SBP in motion, a 25-man Board was formed. There were 12 representatives from the BAP and 12 from Pilipinas Basketball (PB), the initial entity tapped to succeed the BAP as the NSA member in the POC. The 25th seat was awarded to PLDT chairman Manny Pangilinan by acclamation.
A highly respected businessman with a heart for sports, Pangilinan was viewed as the BAP-SBP’s unifying element. He gave in to the clamor of the basketball community all over the country to become BAP-SBP president even if it meant a huge sacrifice in his time, energy and resources. Pangilinan could’ve declined the invitation to serve and cited his enormous business responsibilities, here and abroad, as a legitimate constraint in accepting the offer. But as basketball is a passion for millions of Filipinos, Pangilinan couldn’t turn his back on being a major part of the solution to finally lift the country’s FIBA suspension. Surely, the act of patriotism was acknowledged by FIBA itself as Pangilinan’s leadership was considered a crucial factor in lifting the suspension.
With Pangilinan at the helm, the BAP-SBP has made significant inroads in laying the groundwork for a meaningful national development basketball program. Former BAP leaders Fritz Gaston, Yayoy Alcoseba and Michel Lhuillier, to name a few, joined the BAP-SBP mainstream to bring about a consolidation of forces. Eventually, the country was back on track in sending competitive teams to international tournaments. There was direction to where the BAP-SBP was going.
Sadly, some individuals in the defunct BAP wouldn’t answer the call to unity. One particular individual, who occupies a seat in the BAP-SBP Board, never attended a single BAP-SBP Board meeting and continues to put down the BAP-SBP, often expressing disgust in notes to Baumann and FIBA-Asia officials.
Meanwhile, Rep. Luis Villafuerte - the BAP’s nominee as BAP-SBP chairman - has gone on the warpath in citing what he perceived to be irregularities in Pangilinan’s administration. He insinuated one such irregularity in receiving funding assistance from Tao Corp., a BAP-SBP sponsor. Villafuerte enumerated his misgivings in a letter to Pangilinan with copies furnished to FIBA and FIBA-Asia.
Pangilinan, known for his integrity in business circles, bristled at Villafuerte’s suggestion.
“I will never tolerate a misdemeanor of this kind and neither, I am sure, will Tao Corp. or NOKIA allow this,” he wrote in a reply to Villafuerte. “If anything, I have been hugely out of pocket financially personally in support of SBP (BAP-SBP) and its activities since its inception.”
Tao Corp. president Jun Sy later issued this statement to BAP-SBP executive director Patrick Gregorio: “Please relay to Mr. Pangilinan Tao Corp.’s total support on his leadership and vision. I hope he will not be discouraged by the selfish motives of others. Let me know how I can help in confirming that all the funds from NOKIA and Tao Corp. have been handled with full transparency and the highest professional standards.”
Villafuerte’s tirade was strategically timed since tomorrow, the BAP-SBP Board will convene to take up, among other things, the validation of legitimate member organizations preparatory to national elections.
In his letter to Pangilinan, Villafuerte claimed “FIBA and FIBA-Asia have already recognized 66 members from BAP and 21 members from PB who will vote in the incoming National Congress.”
But a check with the BAP-SBP revealed that former PBA chairman and San Miguel Corp. executive Ely Capacio, who heads the membership committee, has not released the results of the validation.
“Members are to be classified as active, associate or affiliate,” said a BAP-SBP source. “So far, there are only about 20 active identifiable members like the PBA, PBL, UAAP, NCAA and NCRAA.”
Villafuerte threatened Pangilinan that the BAP “could either terminate the
If Villafuerte makes good his threat for the BAP to secede, it will force the country’s basketball stakeholders to stand up and take a position. It will also force the POC and FIBA to similarly take a position. Will the BAP, forced to extinction by the POC, be allowed to resurrect? Will the BAP-SBP be finally rid of the BAP albatross and progress as just the SBP? Why can’t politicians leave sports alone?
During the Lito Puyat era, the BAP was so politically tainted that it lost credibility. Mercifully, the BAP was shot down by the POC, only its personality kept alive through the BAP-SBP but to eventually disappear with the consolidated entity’s evolution as just the SBP.
It is incongruous that as the BAP is supposed to be led to pasture, politicians with no basketball background are now trying to revive the discredited organization at the expense of well-meaning supporters of the new order. Unfortunately, this could be the recipe for another FIBA suspension on the country.
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