Asi stays with Pals; Jolas to Pop

Mobiline has abandoned its plan of acquiring Jun Limpot in exchange for Asi Taulava with the team officials saying they're now ready to "live and die" with the Fil-Tongan cager.

This developed as Pop Cola announced yesterday it has acquired veteran Jojo Lastimosa through a trade with Alaska Milk.

Mobiline team manager Debbie Tan said they're no longer waiting for Barangay Ginebra's reply on their offer for a Limpot-Taulava trade as the Mobiline top honchos decided to stick it out with their 6-foot-10 slotman.

Tan said they're convinced Taulava will get his certification of recognition from the Bureau of Immigration once he presents his mother before the BI board. Asi's mother Pauline Hernandez is reportedly arriving from Los Angeles Saturday.

This should be a welcome news for Ginebra as it can now resume its negotiation with Limpot whom the team earlier acquired from Sta. Lucia in a swap for Marlou Aquino.

At Pop Cola, team manager Elmer Yanga said they could pull off surprises this year following their recruitment of Lastimosa.

Pop Cola worked for the trade which involved three other players then immediately signed up Lastimosa to an P8 million contract for two years. The 800s released to the Milkmen Brixter Encarnacion and Roel Buenaventura for Lastimosa and Rhoel Gomez.

Earlier, Pop Cola got a deal with amateur draftee Marc Victoria, signing the former FEU ace to a P3 million contract for three years.

At Alaska, team manager Joaqui Trillo said "everybody's mourning because of Jojo's departure." He added: "We really didn't want to part ways with Jojo. But since we can no longer accommodate him because of the salary cap, we had no choice but to let him go."

Earlier, the Alaska management extended to one more year the playing contracts of playing-assistant coaches Dickie Bachmann and Jun Reyes. The Milkmen also welcomed back Braulio Lim, who was picked in the dispersal draft but not signed by Red Bull.

Meanwhile, nine provincial games, including a double-header in San Fernando, Pampanga, have been lined up in the elimination round of the 2000 PBA All-Filipino Cup which gets off the ground with elaborate opening rites Feb. 20.

The provincial playdates will run for eight straight Saturdays starting with the Tanduay-Pop Cola tussle in Dumaguete City and ending with the Red Bull vs. Pop Cola and Tanduay vs. Barangay Ginebra twinbill at the San Fernando Sports Complex on April 15.

Games in Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Legaspi, Lipa and General Santos are also scheduled.

"We will never stop bringing the best brand of basketball as close to the masses as possible. This has been the PBA's thrust for the past couple of years and we will do our best to make it continue," said PBA commissioner Jun Bernardino.

Ginebra goes out of town twice in the elims, like Tanduay, Alaska, San Miguel, Purefoods, Red Bull, Sta. Lucia and Pop Cola, with the Kings' first road game scheduled March 11 in Cagayan de Oro against the Hotdogs.

Shell Velocity is the defending champion here and the Zoom Masters' only provincial game is scheduled March 25 in Legaspi against the Milkmen. Mobiline plays its only road game at the San Agustin gym in Iloilo City against San Miguel March 4.

Red Bull, the newest kid on the PBA block, plays its first out-of-town game March 8 when the Energizers battle a formidable side in the Realtors in Davao, marking the return of the PBA to that city in quite a long while.

The game in Lipa on April 1 will have the Beermen squaring off with the Hotdogs, while that in General Santos will pit the Milkmen against Sta. Lucia a week later.