businessmirror.com.ph
The “usual suspects” are back for a sequel.
After lurking in the shadows for a while, Graham Lim and long-time ally Go Teng Kok emerged to share the spotlight anew, being named the culprits in a new controversy that again puts the country’s campaign in international basketball events in peril.
Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president Manny Pangilinan said on Wednesday there is an
“implicit threat” from the Fiba of suspending the country anew in international tournaments for what the world governing body of the sport perceives as a failure by SBP to iron out unity issues in local basketball.
Local basketball’s governing body pointed to Lim and Go, who played big roles in the operations of the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) before the SBP was given recognition by Fiba, as the culprits.
Last month, years since SBP took over as the national association for the sport, Fiba created a “Special Commission for the Philippines” that is tasked to iron out the SBP’s “constitutional legitimacy.”
The group is composed of Fiba secretary-general emeritus Borislav Stankovic, vice president of legal commission Ken Madsen and Carl Menky Ching, a known ally of Lim and Go.
In a press conference in his PLDT office in Makati City, Pangilinan was visibly upset while discussing Fiba’s June 20 letter summoning him and other officials of the SBP to a meeting with Fiba brass from July 20 to 22 in the world governing body’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
The SBP main man said Fiba is asking them to attend a meeting, with an implicit threat of suspension while providing no further detail regarding the agenda.
SBP vice chairman Ricky Vargas expressed doubts on the composition of the commission and the decision that will be reached by the group is expected to favor BAP.
Vargas believes that because BAP has nowhere to run after Philippine courts decided with finality that the SBP is the sole legitimate basketball body in the country, the other group’s last resort was to use its influence in Fiba.
“This is a ‘barkada system’ in Fiba. While we try to deal with them professionally, apparently they want more than professionalism to that barkada system that Graham Lim has offered to them over the years,” said Vargas.
Pangilinan said they will not attend the meeting.
“This is really unfair not only to the national team but also to the country, which has been the victim of this ongoing debate by the SBP and BAP. It’s not right, not fair and I don’t think it’s just,” said Pangilinan.
“Unless they [Fiba] tell us what’s the reason for this [meeting], our [letter] to them is no, we will not attend,” he added.
“We deserve to know. They may have the power in [suspension] but I’m assuming they have the basis of suspending a member and must be of grave reason. You just can’t abuse your authority and say I have the power of suspension and when I wake up one day, I want to suspend you because I don’t like your face.”
The first casualty could be the Powerade-Philippine basketball team that will compete in the Fiba-Asia Men’s Championship in Tianjin, China, from August 6 to 16.
“Those dates [of the Geneva meeting] were clearly chosen ahead of the Tianjin tournament to force SBP to bend to the terms of Fiba,” Pangilinan said.
“No question of motives here, coercing an existing and legitimate member which they have recognized to be forced or coerced to submit into terms that it may or may not like. May precedent na ito sa nangyari sa BAP Bapi [BAP Inc.] that led to the demise of Bapi and possibly could also happen to SBP.”
“We will not be cowed by this because we are professionals. We made a commitment to run Philippine basketball as professional as we can,” he added. “We have a sense of pride as Filipinos.”
Vargas added that attending the meeting in Geneva would be an insult to the SBP as he felt that they are being punished without being told the allegations.
“Siguro ang Fiba kailangan na rin magbago,” said Vargas. “It’s now time for us to stand up and tell them [Fiba] hindi kami natatakot because we know what we are doing is right.”
Pangilinan described the special commission as a “hang jury” and the meeting will just be a “moro-moro” as Baumann has not responded to their 10-page letter to Fiba on the issue.
“We should be outraged by this kind of approach, behavior or treatment. I think the SBP should stand up and expose them for what they really are,” Pangilinan said.
PBA chairman Joaqui Trillo even urged the public to get mad and make a stand on the issue.
“We have to show these guys that they are clowns,” said Trillo.