TOP officials of Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) urged BAP-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (BAP-SBP) president Manny V. Pangilinan to honor the Bangkok Agreement to have a “true, unified basketball federation” in the country.

BAP president Prospero “Butch” Pichay and its chairman, Rep. Luis Villafuerte, lambasted the SBP for “disenfranchising” the 66 BAP organizations after Pangilinan and company elevated only 19 associations as voting members of the federation.

And in response to BAP-SBP’s upcoming June 12 national congress, Pichay and Villafuerte initiated a manifesto signed by 58 of 66 BAP groups during its own national congress on Saturday at the Century Park Hotel. The manifesto indicated the group’s intention to hold its elections on June 4.

“We’re not confronting them. We’re just asking them to respect and honor the Bangkok Agreement, which was crafted by them,” Pichay told the BusinessMirror.

“It’s very clear in that agreement that the 66 groups submitted to Fiba should be automatic regular members and not probationary. If they can’t honor the Bangkok Agreement designed by them, then they don’t have any business to be in the sport,” he added.

On Tuesday the Nomination and Membership Committee, headed by Ely Capacio of BAP-SBP, finalized the 19 associations that will have voting power to nominate in the 25-man board of trustee.

Pichay said the creation of a committee that will screen the membership was part of the Tokyo communiqué but was now superseded by the Bangkok Agreement signed by Pangilinan, Pilipinas Basketball’s Jose Capistrano and Christian Tan and Bonifacio Alentajan of BAP.

Pichay stated in the four-page agreement that “all bona fide members of BAP and PB appearing in the lists submitted by BAP and PB to FIBA pursuant to the Tokyo communiqué shall be admitted as ‘members’ instead of ‘probationary members’ of SBP.”

“Those 87 submitted to FIBA will be eligible to elect its first regular board of trustees after the one-year transition period. Malinaw na malinaw ‘yun. They acted on good faith because they all wanted unity. We just wanted them to honor that agreement,” Villafuerte said.

“Kahit hindi na kami tumakbo (ni Pichay) bilang president ng SBP, basta maayos lang natin ang basketball,” Villafuerte, the congressman from Camarines Sur added.

Seventh (Game) Heaven

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F.E.U. men, women march in Nike tourney

FAR Eastern University (FEU) relied on nerves of steel as two of its teams nosed out determined opponents in the Nike Summer League basketball tournament Saturday at the FEU Gym.

GABE NORWOOD, the do-it-all Filipino-American of Hapee Toothpaste, turned out as the major stumbling block in Jason Castro’s dream of cornering his third Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.

TOP officials of Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) urged BAP-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (BAP-SBP) president Manny V. Pangilinan to honor the Bangkok Agreement to have a “true, unified basketball federation” in the country.

THE Philippines did not lose a match in the 2008 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup qualifiers in Iloilo, but still failed to qualify for the tournament proper set from July 30 to August 10 in Hyderabad, India.

Willy Wang did the country proud again after flashing his old deadly form to win a gold medal in the seventh Asian Wushu Championship Thursday at the TaShi Gymnasium in Macau.

University of St. La Salle (USLS)-Bacolod spoiled University of San Jose-Recoletos’ (USJ-R) bid for a crack at the last semifinal berth as it fashioned out a 25-23, 23-25, 25-11, 25-13 victory Sunday to pave the way for Lyceum’s stint in the next round at the close of the quarterfinal phase in the Shakey’s V-League Season 5 at The Arena in San Juan.

WHEN those 1970’s Boston Celtics ran onto the court of their opponent’s arena, Paul Silas would routinely ask the sportswriters how many people they thought were in attendance.