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THE
Philippines is no longer in basketball limbo.
The
International Basketball Federation, or Fiba, yesterday
lifted its suspension on the country, informing the
Basketball Association of the Philippines-Samahang
Basketbol ng Pilipinas (BAP-SBP) of its decision through
an e-mail to the group’s president, Manny Pangilinan.
Fiba
secretary-general Patrick Baumann, who e-mailed
Pangilinan, noted the BAP-SBP’s successful application
as a conditional member of the Philippine Olympic
Committee (POC) last weekend.
That was
the last step required by the world governing body
before it lifted its ban on RP, fulfilling the terms of
a joint communiqué signed by all local basketball
stakeholders—and sanctioned by Fiba’s powerful central
board, which includes Baumann—last August in Tokyo,
Japan.
Pangilinan, the influential telecom tycoon who helped
bring together the country’s warring basketball leaders
under one roof, held a press conference last night at
the Araneta Coliseum to announce the development.
“Thank
you to all those who have helped in lifting the
suspension,” the Samahan president told sportswriters
covering the Philippine Basketball Association
Philippine Cup finals at the Big Dome.
 Joining
Pangilinan at the impromptu meeting were Sen.
Jinggoy Estrada, PBA chairman Ricky Vargas, PBA
commissioner Noli Eala, POC secretary-general Joey
Romasanta and BAP-SBP board member Jun-Jun Capistrano.
“The
lifting is actually the easier part of the process. Now
we must move forward with the process of healing [the
fractured RP basketball community],” he added.
In his
e-mail to Pangilinan, Baumann confirmed that the Tokyo
agreement “has now been complied with, and as a
consequence the suspension on the Philippines is
lifted.”
“At the
same time, the BAP-SBP replaces the BAP as a duly
affiliated member of FIba, taking over all of its rights
and obligations,” he wrote.
Two
resolutions confirming the local caging body’s
affiliation with the POC will be submitted for
ratification to the Fiba central board at its next
meeting on March 3 in
Madrid, Spain,
Baumann added.
“The
membership of BAP-SBP with Fiba is subject to the
condition that the Fiba general statutes and internal
regulations, as well as the by-laws that your federation
has unanimously approved at the unity congress, are
fully and at all times complied with in letter and in
spirit,” the world body’s secretary-general wrote to
Pangilinan.
“We wish
you much success and look forward to welcoming the RP in
the forthcoming competitions in Fiba-Asia and Fiba,” he
ended.
19-month
suspension
Lasting
19 months, the suspension began in July 2005, shortly
after the POC expelled the old BAP from its roster of
member national sports associations (NSAs) over its
“intransigence” in forming a national team for the
Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in December that year.
Besides
keeping the country from defending its SEA Games and
Southeast Asia Basketball Association (Seaba)
championships, the Fiba ban also prevented an RP team
from competing in the Asian Games last December in Doha,
Qatar.
But
after the unity congress merged the 70-year-old BAP with
Pilipinas Basketball to form the BAP-SBP last February
5, Baumann said it was merely a matter of formality
before Fiba canceled the suspension—the third time the
Geneva, Switzerland-based federation has penalized the
country after doing so in 1963 and 2001.
Now that
the world body has given the country the all-clear, the
BAP-SBP is moving forward with its plan to send the
country’s best players to the Seaba tourney in July,
hoping to ensure a slot to the Fiba-Asia championship in
Tokushima, Japan.
The Fiba-Asia
loop, in turn, is a qualifying event for the 2008
Beijing Olympics—the immediate goal of the new
basketball leadership under Pangilinan, who has also
proposed that the country host the Seaba and another
Olympic qualifier.
Pangilinan also said the whole nation should “share in
the burden” of sending the best teams possible to events
abroad, even as he batted for an all-pro team to
represent the country in the Seaba instead of a mixed
squad of amateurs and PBA stars.
Grateful
to Pangilinan
The POC,
meanwhile, hailed Fiba’s decision, which came just three
days after its general assembly voted to grant the
BAP-SBP conditional membership pending its formal
affiliation with the international federation.
 “The
POC as well as the Filipino basketball fans are
sincerely grateful to the stakeholders who worked long
and hard to put us back on the basketball map. Our
special congratulations to the gallant efforts of Manuel
Pangilinan, who remained steadfast and resolute
throughout,” POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco
Jr., said in a statement.
“Mr.
Cojuangco, who was in Tarlac at the moment, received a
call from MVP [Pangilinan], delivering the news about
the lifting of the suspension,” said Romasanta.
“The [POC’s]
next move would probably be to call an executive board
meeting two weeks from now for ‘MVP’ to present the
latest development in basketball and to map out the POC
and the BAP-SBP’s next move,” he added.
Romasanta stressed there would be no urgency for the
Olympic body to call a special executive committee
meeting anytime soon because Pangilinan and the BAP-SBP
“can proceed with the task.”
“The
BAP-SBP is ready to move on with its planning session
and as far as the POC is concerned the new group is on
track with its objective to revive basketball,” he
added.
During
the last POC general assembly held Friday at Cojuangco’s
Forbes Park residence, the BAP-SBP received provisional
membership by virtue of a two-thirds vote from the
member NSAs.
As soon
as the FIBA credits the new basketball body, the POC can
issue the regular membership to the BAP-SBP, Romasanta
said.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William
Ramirez also expressed happiness over the development,
and said an office at the Philsports Complex will be
ready for BAP-SPB’s use.
“We, in
the PSC, praise all the people behind the unification
process. We appreciate the time given by Mr. Pangilinan
to the Philippine sports and we are hoping he inspired a
lot people to also give their precious time in sports,”
Ramirez said. (With Dave Coros, Aileen Gabutina and
Zenaida Dadacay) |
