FIBA to tweak eligibility rule?

MANILA, Philippines - The FIBA eligibility rule requiring a foreign-born player to obtain a passport of another country where he has blood lineage before turning 16 as a condition for representation has caused severe collateral damage to the Philippines.

The rule was made to thwart the practice of passing off foreigners as locals to represent a country in FIBA tournaments. FIBA cracked down on the anomaly at the FIBA Asia Championships in 2011 when five players in the Qatar roster were declared ineligible because of nationality issues. One of the players was Tanguy Ngombo who was born in Brazaville, Congo, and had represented Qatar as a local at the 2010 Asian Games and 2010 FIBA Asia Champions Cup. Ngombo was the Dallas Mavericks second round pick in the 2011 NBA draft. His birth documents were found to be spurious.

FIBA allows a country to recruit one foreigner as a naturalized citizen but the others in a lineup must be locals. FIBA will accept a dual citizen as a local for as long as he or she represents only one country and acquired the passport of the country of representation before turning 16.

“Unfortunately, the rule is prejudicial to the Philippines because we’ve got a lot of talented Fil-foreigners all over the world,” said SBP senior consultant and former FIBA Central Board member Moying Martelino. “The rule wasn’t meant to crack down on the Philippines but on countries that transform foreigners into locals with overnight citizenship. It’s collateral damage to the Philippines.”

Qatar has not been restrained in other sports. At the recent world handball championships, Qatar’s 17-man roster had 15 foreigners from nine different countries including Spain, France, Cuba and Montenegro. This abuse is precisely what FIBA is curbing.

SBP executive director Sonny Barrios said FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann is open to suggestions on how to tweak the eligibility rule without prejudicing countries like the Philippines while keeping a tight control on countries that turn out “fake” locals. Barrios said he has assigned the task of looking for a solution to lawyer Edgar (Aga) Francisco who is a member of the FIBA Legal Commission.

Former Gilas head coach Chot Reyes said the rule, as it stands today, disenfranchises Fil-foreigners like Jordan Clarkson of the Los Angeles Lakers, Stephen Holt of St. Mary’s College, Aaron Craft of Ohio State and Moala Tautuaa of the PBA D-League’s Cagayan Rising Stars from playing for the Philippines in FIBA competitions. To be eligible to play for Gilas, the Fil-foreigners must have been issued a Philippine passport before they turned 16. Tautuaa, for instance, got his Philippine passport only recently and he’s now 25.

Reyes said perhaps, FIBA might consider exceptions to the rule where a foreign-born applicant may apply to represent another country if he submits the birth certificate of a parent proving blood lineage to that country.

“The player and the parent must personally submit themselves for questioning by FIBA,” said Reyes. “If the parent with lineage to the country has died or is unable to present himself or herself to FIBA, then the application is rejected. Maybe, FIBA might consider to limit the exception to two for each country aside from the naturalized player.”

The idea isn’t to find a loophole in the FIBA rule but to allow legitimate representation of a country where a player has roots. Barrios said thinking “out of the box” is what could cushion the collateral damage to the Philippines. The restriction does not apply to a player born in the country of representation such as the case of Fil-Am Matt Ganuelas-Rosser who was born in the Philippines.

Clarkson, 22, is a prime example of a Fil-foreigner prejudiced by the FIBA rule. The 6-4 guard was the Washington Wizards’ second round pick in the NBA draft last year and this season, is averaging 8.4 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 19.1 minutes in 35 games, including 14 starts, with the Lakers. He’s shooting 82.1 percent from the line, 43 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Clarkson’s mother Annette Davis is a full-blooded Filipina born in Angeles City. He was born in San Antonio, Texas, and has never been issued a Philippine passport. Before turning pro, Clarkson averaged 15.4 points in 93 games, including 75 starts, in two seasons with the University of Tulsa and one with the University of Missouri. Clarkson’s addition to the Gilas roster would be a major upgrade.