I just read this post of Tony Atayde at
www.inboundpass.com. I am totally shocked. Read the complete article:
courtesy of www.inboundpass.com
Will they stay or go to the Universiade?
by Tony L. Atayde
The Philippine Collegiate Champions League was supposed to have been a success. It brought together all the major collegiate teams in the country. It had a terrific final game, pitting arch rivals La Salle versus Ateneo. Everyone thought that it was the year that would be the beginning of the concept of crowning a true National Champion.
Ateneo was of course heavily favored, after it steamrolled over the competition, on the way to the finals. Even with the absence of starters Chris Tiu and Ryan Buenafe, the Blue Eagles looked formidable. A finals win would have given them a sweep of the major collegiate basketball championships.
La Salle on the other hand, had a harder time. In the semis, they had to have a late game steal and conversion to get to the finals.
In the end La Salle overwhelmed the Blue Eagles and with that, was supposed to come a slew of prizes. There was a P500,000.00 cash prize and most importantly, the right to represent the country in the 2009 Universiade Games in Belgrade.
Now it seems that a lot of what was promised before the tournament may not have come to pass. First, the La Salle team who won the championship only received P400,000.00, of which P30,000.00 was in gift certificates and P370,000.00 was in cash. The reason allegedly given for the P100,000.00 shortfall, was that it was used as prize money for the individual awards.
As I was going over the many press releases for the Philippine Collegiate Champion’s League, I saw that the amount of P500,000.00 was repeatedly heralded as the winning prize money. If the reason given was that the shortfall was used for the prizes for the individual awards, then why trumpet a prize of a half million pesos for the winner in the first place. That is a 20% shortfall or about P5,000 per member of the winning team.
The biggest prize of the PCC tournament was that the winning team will represent the Philippines in the 2009 Universiade Games in Serbia. La Salle, the PCC champion, was supposed to be that team. However, now it looks like it may not happen after all.
First, it has been rumored that the UAAP will have its opening on July 11, 2009. The Universiade basketball competition ends on July 12, 2009. Allegedly, the UAAP Board has no intentions of moving the opening date to accommodate the entry of La Salle in the Universiade. This may be because the UAAP works on a tight calendar of year-round events in different sports.
If the UAAP schedule is the issue, then it would appear that the Samahan Basketbol ng Pilipinas, of which the UAAP is a member, did not coordinate the matter with the UAAP Board before making it a part of the PCC champion team’s prize.
There are even unverified reports that it was suggested that La Salle did not have to send its top players to the Unversiade or evem that a selection of players from different schools be created for this purpose. Is that fair? If La Salle would not send their best players, then the school would be accused of abandoning the country’s interest. Sending a selection of players from different schools would take away from the integrity of a commitment made.
Furthermore, a look at the website of the Belgrade Universiade 2009, http://www.ub2009.org/dokumenta/prijave/Pa...%20Schedule.pdf, one can see that the submission of the “Intention to Participate Form” was Oct. 1, 2008, which was way before the PCCL. Secondly, the deadline for submission of the “General Entry Form” was Jan. 1, 2009. Lastly, the deadline for what is called “Final Engagement Form” or the final list of athletes who will participate, was on February 1, 2009.
The PCC is a sanctioned tournament of the SBP. Has the SBP submitted these forms? Have they gathered all the documentations of the players? Has the SBP paid the participation fee? Lastly, did the Philippines even qualify or get invited to send a team to the Universiade? These questions have to be answered in the interest of transparency.
A commitment was made by the SBP, which is the highest basketball governing body in the Philippines. Participation in the 2009 Belgrade Universiade was used as a come-on for teams to join the league. Does the winner of the PCC now have to beg to get the prize that they won fair and square? Would the same thing have happened if a school other than La Salle would have won the PCC tournament? In the event that the SBP cannot send La Salle to the Unversiade for whatever reason, they should not send a team at all, for this will have the obvious appearance of discrimination. If SBO cannot fulfill their promise, then they should instead give La Salle the money that it allocated for the tournament and allow La Salle to decide which tournament it may choose to join.
In the event La Salle goes to the Universiade but fails to qualify for the later rounds, it will be forced to leave the games early, for them to be back in time for the UAAP opening. If that happens, expect the naysayers to climb on their soap boxes and chastise the Green Archers for abandoning the tournament.
If La Salle does not get the prize that it was promised, they will not be the loser here. It will be the PCC and the SBP who will lose. The PCC would lose all the headway they made in last year’s tournament while the SBP will lose its credibility in its ability to support good leagues such as the PCC. They will definitely not get the same response they did last year if they do not deliver on their promises.
Personally, I hope that the SBP clears this matter up and makes the necessary arrangements to deliver on their promise. The PCC is too good a tournament to be tarnished with a controversy such as this.
This shows how insincere both the PCC organizers and SBP's very own MVP were regarding DLSU's victory in the PCC in regards to the prizes
PROMISED! Remember, the PCC was touted as the one tournament that would determine the ultimate COLLEGIATE CHAMPION IN THE PHILIPPINES. DLSU WON! AND IS RIGHTLY THE TOP COLLEGIATE TEAM THIS SCHOOL YEAR. But to entice participation of ALL the best collegiate teams in the country the following were
PROMISED:
1. the PCC, through its head Mr. Rey Gamboa, pledged to give P500,000 to the WINNING school to be used in its athletics/scholarship programs,
2. SBP's prexy Manny V. Pangilinan PERSONALLY promised to give the WINNING team an additional P500,000 to be distributed among the team members. (Note: The difference of P5,000 per team member may not mean much to some of you,[size=10pt][/size] and maybe for MVP, it may just be what he uses to tip waiters, bus boys, etc, but for our players who come from less economically endowed families than those he supports in two schools, that amount means a whole lot.)
As you know, the main personalities here are not alumni nor supporters of DLSU. SBP's own MVP is the main financier of the two schools whom DLSU beat to win the Championship. Thus, we can surmise that when DLSU beat both his beloved San Beda and ADMU,
they may have lost any appetite to keep their committments to the PHILIPPINE COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONS - DLSU! This was very evident in MVP's face in the pictures taken with DLSU at the awarding ceremonies. Even the representing of the Philippines in the Universaide was a come on which
DLSU used as its main objective for joining this tournament as it would give our team world class competition in preparation for the UAAP wars. But it seems, there never was any REAL effort to ensure the PCC winner to join the Universaide games in Serbia this July.
WHAT DECEPTION! WHAT LIES!
Also, this clearly shows the biases of the SBP's heiracrhy when it comes to collegiate basketball. Due to its own head's fanatical support for his two schools,
no other school can realistically expect fair treatment in any tournament where his two supported schools are involved. That is not the fault of the two schools involved, mind you.
I thought when the SBP was put together, Philippine basketball would get back on the right path. Now, with this experience, it seems that we may have changed the organization, but the same old sick practices in the past are being continued at the present. New dog, old habits. At least with the BAP, when they said they would send a team to an international tournament, for the most part they DID!. Here, it is obvious SBP is not making any earnest effort to send DLSU to the Universaide and. if they did, to make representations with the UAAP (one of the SBP's ORIGINAL members), regarding NOT the UAAP entire schedule, but the schedule of DLSU's first two games,
AT MOST!
I am totally, disappointed with both the PCC tournament proponents and the SBP, specially since they seem to have shortchanged DLSU for winning the PCC. I wonder if these would have happend had San Beda or ADMU won? For our part, we supported the PCC all the way, even cajoling our community to watch the games. With all these happening to DLSU, I don't think we will support the PCC again, unless they make good their PROMISES.
Oh well,
I guess that is the road the SBP chooses and wants to take. Sad...... truly sad.
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