No regrets, walkout right decision - MVP

MANILA, Philippines - Despite their failed semifinal bid in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup, Smart-PLDT chairman Manny V. Pangilinan said he had no regrets in backing his Talk n Text team’s walkout against Barangay Ginebra Friday night.

“It was the right decision under the circumstances,” he said.

Pangilinan, however, reiterated that the entire team will be evaluated after Talk n Text’s sorry exit Sunday night, marking the end of Tropang Texters’ reign as PBA Philippine Cup champions.

The Texters swept the Gin Kings in the first two games of their best-of-five series but dropped the next three, including a forfeiture in Game 4 after they walked out in the first quarter in protest over officiating.

The team instead settled for fifth in the tourney which they ruled over the Alaska Milk Aces last season.

Ginebra, meanwhile, completed a comeback from that 0-2 deficit with a 113-100 win Sunday, gaining the right to play Alaska Milk in the best-of-seven semis.

“It’s difficult to say what will happen because (our campaign) has just finished. For sure, we’ll evaluate the performance of everybody. We’ll see what went wrong and what went right,” said Pangilinan, who with his Tropang Texters were the last group to leave the Araneta Coliseum Sunday.

Pangilinan, furious over officiating in the first four games of the series, said he was satisfied with the way the calls were made in the do-or-die match.

“Ginebra played very well and they deserved to win. We didn’t play as well as we should have, but it happens,” said Pangilinan.

The series may be over for Talk n Text but it still faces stiff sanction from the PBA for its Game Four walkout.

The league basic fine for a walkout or forfeiture is P500,000. At presstime, the Commissioner’s Office is still looking at other compensations like lost TV income to be imposed on the ballclub.

The Talk n Text management, however, maintained walking out of Game Four was the right move to stress their stand on officiating.

“We will not hesitate to walk out again if such unfairness continues. We cannot, as a matter of principle, tolerate biased officiating in the PBA,” said Talk n Text board representative Ricky Vargas before they returned to play Sunday.

In Game Five, Talk n Text supporters wore yellow shirts bearing a line “Be Fair.”

The Texters, however, seemed to have lost their focus, and the Kings pounced on the situation to make it three in a row, matching historic comeback feats from such deficits by Crispa and Purefoods.

Talk n Text thus joined early casualties Barako Bull, Sta. Lucia Realty, Burger King, Coca-Cola and Rain or Shine in the sideline.

Meanwhile, JC Intal bagged the KFC-Accel Player of the Week honors after stepping up for Ginebra’s stirring comeback in the series.

The former Ateneo Eagle capped his impressive showing with a double-double game in Game Five with 28 points and 10 rebounds.