Averting a crisis

It was POC secretary-general and former PBA chairman Patrick Gregorio who raised the red flag in calling a crisis situation when the SBP decided to withdraw the Philippine national basketball team from the Asian Games in Jakarta two weeks ago.

Gregorio was tasked to inform the Indonesian Asian Games Organizing Committee of the country’s pull-out from the competition after a draw had installed the Philippines in Group B with Iran, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. In a letter to SBP president Al Panlilio, Gregorio said he will send the notice “with a heavy heart.” He noted, “just between friends and in my official capacity as POC secretary-general, I am very sad this will happen during our team as POC leaders.”

But Gregorio never lost hope that a reversal could be arranged. He quietly worked behind the scenes with PBA commissioner Willie Marcial to find a solution to the crisis. San Miguel Corp. sports director Alfrancis Chua, who represents Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Board of Governors, was also involved in the process as it was critical for the San Miguel Group to back the reversal. 

Things started to fall into place when SBP chairman Sen. Sonny Angara, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and Presidential Assistant Secretary Bong Go reacted to the public clamor to play in Jakarta. Calls were made to SBP officials asking for a reconsideration and in the end, the decision to reverse was made. To be sure, it wasn’t easy to make a decision either way – to withdraw and later, to rescind the pull-out. But when the country calls, making tough decisions becomes easier.

Gregorio said the decision to withdraw caught him by surprise. “The PBA Board had just met and even held a press conference to announce the participation when after a few hours, it was decided to withdraw,” he said. “It was shocking. I thought to myself, how would we communicate the decision to the POC Executive Board and General Assembly? I hoped there would be no traction but I knew this was bloody. While I respect the decision, I couldn’t support it.”

Gregorio said even from the ESPN5 viewpoint, it was difficult to justify the withdrawal. “You’re paying P25 Million for the rights to cover the Asian Games without basketball when we all know it’s basketball that generates the most advertising revenues,” he said. “It’s like the Philippines not participating in the Asean Summit. Isn’t it a national obligation to participate, regardless of how strong or weak our national team is?”

Gregorio said in preparing a lineup for the national team, neither Andray Blatche nor Jordan Clarkson could be included. “Andray was suspended by FIBA for his role in the brawl with Australia so morally speaking, he couldn’t go even if the suspension didn’t include the Asian Games,” he said. “As for Jordan, we talked to the NBA and were told to just get clearance from the Cleveland Cavaliers. But the question is could we afford him? It’s not his fee but the premium on his insurance.”

Early last Sunday morning, Gregorio said things moved quickly to rescind the withdrawal. Before noon, he said the decision to reverse was made. Gregorio quoted POC president and PBA chairman Ricky Vargas as saying, “We realized that there was a strong clamor from basketball and since we are the house of basketball, we need to really take a look at it and understand where that clamor is coming from…galing pala ‘yan sa puso ng ating mga basketball fans.”

Gregorio said in Article 13 No. 5 of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Constitution, “a member of the OCA is obligated to participate in the OCA (or Asian) Games … a member may lose its membership and voting rights as decided by the Executive Board if it decides not to participate in the Asian Games or withdraws its team partially, or as a whole, without any valid reason.” The implication is the Philippines stood to be sanctioned if the OCA wouldn’t accept as justifiable the reason for withdrawing the basketball team. That was the real crisis averted by the decision to reverse the withdrawal.

SBP president Al Panlilio said Gregorio would coordinate with the OCA and the Indonesian Asian Games Organizing Committee in accrediting the list of 14 players named to the national pool. There was concern that in the eligibility rules, a naturalized import must have established a three-year residency and an athlete of mixed ethnicity had to be born in the country being represented. But Gabe Norwood, who was born in the US, played for the Philippines in the 2014 Asian Games so exceptions to the rules are allowed.

In the initial lineup, Fil-Nigerian A. J. Edu was named to the pool of 12 but later delisted. Asi Taulava was in the roster from the start as were Maverick Ahanmisi, Stanley Pringle, Paul Lee, Chris Tiu, James Yap, Norwood, Raymond Almazan, Beau Belga, Poy Erram and Ricci Rivero. Added to expand the pool to 14 were Kobe Paras, Don Trollano and Christian Standhardinger.