House ponders probe on Allado allegations

MANILA, Philippines - Although the PBA and Barako Bull center Don Allado have already denied alleged “game-fixing” in the pro league, the House of Representatives appears bent on digging further.

Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption party-list Rep. Sherwin Tugna and Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, in separate statements, said an inquiry should be conducted to get to the bottom of the issue following Allado’s rants on his Twitter account.

“The reported ‘game-fixing’ was a serious accusation because it erodes public confidence in the game. An appropriate inquiry appears imperative to stop game-fixing in sports and bring guilty parties before the bar of justice,” Castelo said.

 He said professional basketball as one of the top sports in the country “deserves protection from game-fixers, who represent the dark side of the sports.”

Allado on Wednesday scored the PBA for what he perceived was manipulation of the results of the games via microblogging site Twitter. He later apologized to the league and retracted his tweets but still drew a heavy fine of P500,000 along with a one-conference ban.

PBA commissioner Chito Salud also belied insinuations that PBA games are rigged.

Tugna strongly backed the conduct of the probe, saying the allegations of corruption in the PBA is “a divisive issue.”

 “The nation stopped and paid attention to Allado’s tweets and to his big words about game-fixing and corruption within the Filipino’s most-loved sport,” Tugna said. “Like millions of Filipinos I am hooked to this issue and I can’t help but take this issue very seriously.

“This game is labelled as our national pastime, a most-loved sport, and the PBA a most-loved league, now even these are seriously threatened by corruption,” he said.

The lawmaker said the scandal can have “a drastic effect to the motivation and inspiration of other players.”

“Some of them may think that some games could be sold and that teams can win as long as they have money to buy the games. This could be the kind of Pandora’s box of thoughts that Don Allado may have exposed that’s why we need to move fast to bring order back and to bring trust back to the country’s number one sport,” Tugna said.