Who’s advising Lim?

Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) "troubleshooter" Go Teng Kok is convinced there are unseen forces influencing Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) secretary-general Graham Lim to take an adversarial position against the other stakeholders in the sport.

It’s not BAP legal counsel Bonifacio Alentajan, that’s for sure, says Go. Alentajan is a friend of long standing and he, more than anyone, knows the adverse repercussions of the BAP challenging the POC. And it couldn’t be BAP president Tiny Literal who often suffers from mental lapses.

Go suspects the dark side is represented by coaches whom he describes as "kulang sa pansin."

Go confides that a BAP "insider" reported overhearing a jobless coach exhorting Lim "to fight to the end" because "we have nothing to lose." He says he knows who the coaches are but holds no grudge against them. That’s why he’s not revealing who they are to media.

But he’s hoping Lim realizes what he’s getting from the coaches is "bad advice."

"Public opinion is against the BAP," explains Go. "Who can respect the BAP now after two turnarounds? First, Graham promises to support the call for unity during the first summit meeting in Mr. (Jose) Cojuangco’s home. Then, the BAP submits a resolution of support to Mr. Cojuangco in the second summit meeting. After that, the BAP announces it will form its own team, with its own coach, for the SEABA (Southeast Asian Basketball Association) tournament–contrary to what was agreed on in the two summit meetings and to what the BAP promised to support."

The final straw was Literal signing a press release expressing his support of Cojuangco’s initiative only to retract a day later in a contradictory statement that also branded Go as a virtual "persona non grata."

Subsequently, the POC issued a letter to the BAP, addressed to Literal, asking for a written explanation–within 72 hours–of its decision to renege on its commitment supporting Cojuangco’s initiative "otherwise, we shall be constrained to initiate sanction on the BAP such as but not limited to the withdrawal of recognition of BAP as the NSA (National Sports Association) for basketball."

As of yesterday morning, POC media affairs chief Joey Romasanta said the letter had not been received by any BAP official because no one was at the BAP office in the Rizal Memorial complex. It appeared to be a BAP ploy to claim ignorance of the order.

Testing Cojuangco’s patience isn’t the right thing to do. If the BAP thinks a cute trick like staying out of office to avoid being served the letter is going to frustrate Cojuangco into doing nothing, it’s sadly mistaken. The BAP is only courting disaster.

Obviously, the BAP’s tactic is to buy time and delay receiving the letter because of the proximity of the SEABA tournament. Its apparent strategy is to hold the country hostage as the duly-recognized NSA for basketball.

With public sentiment against it, what does the BAP gain from being recalcitrant? Go says fighting the POC is suicidal.

Perhaps, the BAP is emboldened by Lim’s close relationship with Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC), now known as FIBA (Federation Internationale de Basketball)-Asia, secretary-general Dato Yeoh Choo Hock of Malaysia.

The BAP is probably banking on Yeoh’s support to keep the POC off its back, citing the time-honored policy of autonomy for NSAs. And with Yeoh on its side, the BAP is assuming the POC won’t risk ordering a suspension because it could mean canceling the Philippines’ participation in the SEABA tournament.

If the BAP’s recognition is withdrawn, there will be no NSA to accredit the Philippine team to the SEABA tournament unless the POC is given special authority by FIBA–which is usually not done.

But Go says Yeoh has no authority to cancel the Philippines’ participation because only the FIBA president Dr. Carl Ching Men Ky and secretary-general Patrick Baumann can order such a cancellation.

A three-fourths vote of the POC General Assembly will withdraw recognition of an NSA. If the BAP is stripped of recognition, the POC will then open the NSA for basketball to application. An organization must be endorsed by the FIBA to be considered as the NSA for basketball by the POC in the event the BAP’s recognition is cancelled.

The process of the POC recognizing a new NSA for basketball will take time and with the SEABA tournament only a month away, the country’s participation is in jeopardy if the BAP is stripped of its NSA status.

If the Philippines fails to participate in the SEABA tournament, it will not be allowed to play in the FIBA-Asia Championships in Doha this September and will therefore be ineligible to qualify for the World Championships in Saitama, Japan, next year.

The key is participating and finishing top two in the SEABA tournament. The whole exercise of forming a competitive national team made up of Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) stars will go for naught if the country is disqualified from playing in the SEABA tournament and if it is allowed to play, it doesn’t finish top two.