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SENATORS
agreed to craft remedial legislation that would clarify
the powers of the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) amid
complaints against the GAB’s “undue interference” in the
functions of duly recognized National Sports
Associations (NSAs), such as the Billiards and Snooker
Congress of the Philippines (BSCP).
At a
public hearing Wednesday, members of the Senate
subcommittee on sports competitiveness moved to review
Marcos-era Presidential Decree (PD) 871, which GAB
chairman Eric Buhain invoked, BSCP officials said, to
“encroach, interfere and regulate the organization and
management [of billiard sports] in the country.”
Citing
initial findings following the hearing, Senate Minority
Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. prodded the subcommittee to
reexamine the relevance of PD 871, which was issued to
check rampant game-fixing activities during the martial
law years.
“The
problem here is that the GAB failed to explain its aim;
whether it is regulating or interfering in sports, like
billiards, when we are no longer under a dictatorship,”
Pimentel said.
Appearing at the inquiry chaired by Sen. Gregorio
Honasan, BSCP president Yen Makabenta confirmed the
GAB’s interference in the BSCP’s selection of players
for international competition, specifically the Guinness
Pool Tour and the World 8-Ball Championship.
Makabenta reported to the senators that in a series of
letters to the BSCP, to the players and international
organizers, as well as the World Pool-Billiard
Association and the Asian Pocket Billiards Union, Buhain
“bluntly claimed the authority to supervise and regulate
the selection of players for international competition,
regardless of whether the selection process involves a
purse or not.”
The BSCP
chairman pointed out that PD 871 refers to “games” not
“sports.” He noted that the decree specifically refers
to professional games and “nowhere in the decree are
billiards and other sports mentioned.”
Makabenta also informed the subcommittee that Buhain is
invoking the decree to enforce a policy requiring
billiard players to get a license from GAB, which BSCP
viewed as “an apparent discrimination against billiards,
which are no different from other sports events like
chess, beach volleyball and motorsports where players
are not required to get GAB licenses to play.”
He added
that the purpose of the PD 871 was to empower GAB to
protect the public from games where betting is involved
largely due to the prevalent game-fixing and other
anomalies at the time it was issued by the late
President Ferdinand Marcos.
“This
purpose of the decree is in no way served by GAB’s
interfering with the selection of Filipino billiards
players for international competition, or the
organization and management of local billiards
tournaments,” Makabenta said.
“We are
asking the committee to help clarify this issue and
ascertain if there is need to amend Presidential Decree
871,” Makabenta told reporters after the hearing, adding
the decree is “very vague and can be misinterpreted at
will” by the GAB.
He
complained that the controversial PD “does not even
mention sports” like billiards and covers only games and
amusement.
Champion
billiard players Efren Reyes and Roberto Gomez, who
likewise testified at the hearing, suggested to the
Senators that Congress could also craft a law that would
protect players and ensure they get the prizes due them
for winning tournaments.
Before
adjourning the hearing, Honasan asked BSCP, GAB and the
players to submit their respective position papers
before the sub-committee convenes a follow-up inquiry on
the matter. |
