National five aspirants offered lucrative pacts

Members of the national team under the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas are being treated and pampered like pros.

According to SBP executive director Noli Eala, lucrative contracts have been offered to the young players, most of them still studying, who are being groomed for future international meets.

Eala said the players, down to 18 from an original pool of 35, were offered contracts that can match or even surpass the salaries of some PBA players, and it includes a hefty bonus package.

Eala yesterday said one of them, whom he refused to identify, was offered P6.4 million for three years, the duration of the program being designed by Serbian coach Rajko Toroman.

Some players were offered two-year contracts with an option for one more year after evaluation, while some were given three-year contracts worth millions of pesos.

Eala said those who were offered contracts were Chris Tiu, Ryan Buenafe and Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Mark Barroca, JR Cawaling, RJ Jasul, Jason Ballesteros, Marcy Arellano, Ogie Menor and Rey Guevarra.

The others, led by Rico Maierhofer, will be presented their contracts on Friday during team practice. They will be given time to decide, although Eala felt that no one would decline.

Eala said on the first year, the SBP, bankrolled by Smart and PLDT chairman Manny V. Pangilinan, will spend P14 million on the players, then P24 million and P36 million on the third year.

The team is looking at the SEABA Champions Cup which would lead to a possible stint in the FIBA Asia Champions Cup this year. Also on tap are the SEA Games in Laos in December, and the Asian Games in China next year.

“The contracts have been presented to the players and they were more than happy. They were awed by the fact that we’re offering them unbelievable contracts at this point of their career,” said Eala.

“These are contracts that even pro players will be happy with. The initial reaction was very positive. Coach Toroman felt the players didn’t like it but in reality it’s more of a shock to them,” he added.

“It’s more than a million peso contract for everybody and some have two-year contract. There was one who got P6.4 million for three years. These players are very lucky.”

The SBP official said since most of the players are still playing in the UAAP or NCAA they did not schedule tournaments during the collegiate season. The only hitch is that some of them are with the PBL.

These players also get paid by their PBL teams, and may be forced to make a choice if problems with their schedule, especially in practices, cannot be avoided in the future.

“We’re asking the PBL to allow the players to practice with us and compete so we can share players. If this is not acceptable then everybody will have to make some sacrifice and we’ll have to pull out some players from the PBL,” Eala said.

Eala added they encourage the players to keep on studying. If they flunk their academics, they are scratched from the SBP payroll but will remain with the team.

“Their commitments to their schools are sacred to us. And one of our requirements is for them to maintain their college eligibility. If they flunk we take them out of the payroll until they regain their academics,” he said.

“Al-Hussaini was so happy he said, “Boss dito na ako.” He’s very happy and MVP (Pangilinan) is very happy. Our won-game bonuses are like in the PBA and we have no caps how much to give if we win a championship. Sky’s the limit but of course not literally,” Eala added.