Alaska unfazed by rich offer, to keep Kenneth

Alaska requested yesterday the PBA Commissioner’s Office to go over the offer sheet Mobiline gave Kenneth Duremdes although the Uytengsu ballclub stressed it will match the offer to pave the way for the completion of its lineup which will be built around the 1998 MVP awardee.

"They (the Mobiline officials) didn’t believe us. We’ve been saying all along that we’ll keep Kenneth no matter what. And we’re sticking with our gun as we intend to make Kenneth our franchise player," said Alaska team manager Joaqui Trillo.

"Dapat nilaki-lakihan na nila, baka nag-dalawang isip pa kami," he added.

The Commissioner’s Office has yet to announce whether there are items in violation of the salary cap rules in the offer sheet Duremdes got from Mobiline Tuesday. Under the contract, Duremdes is guaranteed of an actual pay of P48 million in eight years and millions more in performance bonuses.

With the team keeping Duremdes in the fold, Bong Alvarez lost his chance to suit up with the Aces in the PBA 2001 season which fires off with a one-game schedule featuring Alaska versus Sta. Lucia on Jan. 28.

"We would have signed up Bong Alvarez had we lost Kenneth. He had practiced with us and he’s in great shape. But the problem now is that we can’t get him without violating the salary cap rule," said Trillo.

Also affected by Duremdes’ return is Bong Hawkins.

Trillo said they earlier offered Hawkins P18 million in three years but the player declined.

While deciding to match Mobiline’s offer sheet to Duremdes, Alaska, at the same time, got an agreement with draft pick John Arigo. Trillo said they’re giving Arigo the league maximum of P200,000 a month in his rookie year and a total package of about P9 million in three years or P15 million in five years.