PBA in a quandary

With the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) poised to suspend the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) in its General Assembly meeting tomorrow, Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) officials are wondering if lowering the boom will throw the preparations for the FIBA (Federation Internationale de Basketball)-Asia Champions Cup—starting Sunday—into disarray.

The BAP is the organizing host of the Champions Cup. Under a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), the BAP ceded the responsibility of forming the Philippine team for the Champions Cup, among others, to the PBA.

The MOA stipulates that in the case of the Champions Cup, "the PBA may opt at its own discretion to send a PBA-member professional team with imports, provided, finally, that the BAP and PBA may mutually agree to allow the PBA-backed team to participate and compete in other elite international tournaments as both parties may deem fit and appropriate."

The PBA subsequently exercised its option to form a team made up of selected players from the national pool, without imports, to see action in the nine-nation competition.

Last weekend, national coach Chot Reyes announced the composition of the squad. Named to represent the country were Jimmy Alapag, Willie Miller, Yancy de Ocampo, Renren Ritualo, Dondon Hontiveros, Nic Belasco, Tony de la Cruz, Kerby Raymundo, Mark Caguioa, Romel Adducul, Rafi Reavis and Sonny Thoss.

FIBA-Asia allows each team to recruit two imports in the annual Champions Cup. The Philippines has won four Champions Cup titles so far. Northern Cement broke the ice in Ipoh, Malaysia, in 1984. Swift took the second crown in Jakarta in 1988. Andok’s captured the title in Kuala Lumpur in 1993. Hapee Toothpaste, reinforced by Tony Harris and Ma Jian, bagged the plum in 1996 when Manila hosted the tournament for the first time.

There were eight entries in the Champions Cup that Manila hosted in 1996. They were the Philippines, China, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan and South Korea. The Philippines skipped the Champions Cup in 2000, 2001 and 2003 because the BAP couldn’t assemble a respectable team.

Last year, the BAP sent a mediocre team called Mediatrix Telecoms to the tournament in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Nelson Kallos of the Philippine School of Business Administration coached the squad whose mainstays included Ricky Ricafuente, Jonathan Tarronas and Stephen Mopera.

As expected, the Philippines was humiliated—another source of embarrassment for the BAP. Mediatrix Telecoms was the only winless entry in the 15th staging of the competition and wound up last among 10 clubs.

The Philippines also finished last in 1999 when the Pasig Pirates of the Metropolitan Basketball Association represented the country. It’s been downwhill for the Philippines in the Champions Cup since Manila hosted in 1996.

This morning, the BAP’s rah-rah brigade is showing up to publicize the coming tournament at the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum. PBA officials aren’t likely to show up, if only to avoid a situation where they may be compromised by appearing to be playing footsies with the BAP.

Because of the looming suspension, the PBA is in quandary because it is a signatory to an MOA with the discredited organization.

"As far as the PBA is concerned, it is responsible to the country for forming a competitive team," said a league insider. "This tournament is not a BAP tournament. It is a FIBA-Asia tournament."

If and when the BAP is suspended by the POC, the country is suddenly without a governing National Sports Association for basketball. That means there will be no duly-authorized body to accredit or sanction national teams to participate in international competitions. This vacuum is something the POC must address with urgency.

Yesterday POC president Jose Cojuangco, Jr. flew to Hong Kong to confer with FIBA president Carl Ching Meng Ky on how to tackle the impending vacuum. He was accompanied by POC chairman Robert Aventajado, POC media affairs chief Joey Romasanta, lawyer Ding Tanjuatco and POC troubleshooter Go Teng Kok. The group is returning to Manila this morning.

The word is FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann is sick and tired of being fed irritating news of internal dissension in Philippine basketball. Baumann reportedly said FIBA considers it "a waste of time and resources" to get involved in resolving the BAP mess. He was also quoted as saying FIBA, as an international federation, has jurisdiction over its country affiliates.

FIBA-Asia president Sheikh Saud Bin Ali Al-Thani of Qatar has supposedly promised to support whatever decision the POC will make regarding the BAP’s fate although FIBA-Asia secretary general Dato Yeoh Choo Hock of Malaysia is rumored to be dilly-dallying.

The BAP isn’t giving up without a fight. It recently tried to recruit Manila Hotel chairman Joey Lina as BAP chairman but failed to get his approval. Sen. Dick Gordon agreed to become the BAP’s project director for the Philippine bid to host the 2007 FIBA-Asia men’s championships but a source said he didn’t realize the implications of his appointment. Perhaps, Gordon should’ve been told the BAP may be extinct in 2007.

The BAP is clutching at straws to stay alive. But choosing to challenge Cojuangco’s authority, showing no word of honor and a track record of mediocrity may be too much grist to stave off its funeral.