Suspended cager to sue PBA

While Talk N Text’s Norman Gonzales is on one side threatening to take legal action for immediate lifting of his suspension, Red Bull’s Jimwell Torion is on the other side, opting to take another course of action — seemingly much proper – which may fast-track his return to active duty in the PBA.

Though stressing he tried an illegal substance only once, Torion heeded the PBA Commissioner’s Office order to submit himself to a drug rehabilitation program.

He’s been confined at the Life Management International rehab center in Makati for two weeks now, totally away from his wife and four children in their Antipolo house.

"That’s the commissioner’s order and he dutifully obeyed, voluntarily entering the rehab," said Red Bull team manager Tony Chua.

People running the rehab center said they will know in a month’s time whether Torion is a habitual user or not.

But by simply entering the rehab, Torion seems to have done the proper move that would pave the way for his early reinstatement in the league.

His move was very much unlike that of Gonzales who chose to challenge the authority of the PBA to hold random drug test among its players.

Through his legal counsel Efren Hipolito, Gonzales on Wednesday asked the PBA that he be reinstated within five days or he will bring the case to the court.

Gonzales was suspended indefinitely after testing positive for Ecstasy. The player denied ever taking illegal drugs and suspected the food supplement he was taking was mistaken for a drug substance.

Commissioner Noli Eala, however, said they will continue with their program against illegal drugs in the league despite a threat of legal action from Gonzales.

"We’ll not be threatened. We challenged them to go to court. We’ll not cancel our program because we believe our drug testing has legal basis. We have moral ground to conduct it," said Eala.

Curiously, while questioning the PBA drug-testing program Wednesday, Gonzales voluntarily joined the mandatory drug test conducted by the league on the Talk N Text team Thursday, according to PBA technical chief Perry Martinez.

"I hope Norman is not misguided or miscounseled," said Eala.

Meanwhile, FedEx seeks to move a win short of an outright slot in the Asian Invitationals as it goes up against Sta. Lucia Realty at the resumption of the Samsung PBA All-Filipino Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum today.