THE cloud of uncertainty enveloping Calvin Abueva has been lifted — but only just so.
Phoenix Super LPG’s suspended forward has been included in the Fuel Masters’ 14-man roster for the PBA Philippine Cup bubble in Pampanga.
But there’s a catch: Abueva must first complete the requirements ordered by the PBA before he can play again.
Unless he does so, the asterisk attached to his name in the official roster released by the PBA yesterday would remain and he could only watch Phoenix’s game from his room at the Quest Hotel inside Clark Freeport Zone.
Commissioner Willie Marcial has repeatedly declined from revealing what those requirements are.
Abueva’s inclusion in the lineup means the indefinite suspension slapped on him by the PBA since early June last year would soon be lifted.
For sure, Abueva has done everything else the PBA asked of him. At the same time, he is working to regain his professional license from the Games and Amusements Board.
No less than GAB chairman Baham Mitra shared on his Twitter account Tuesday night a screenshot of an online meeting, which the 30-year-old forward joined.
Abueva joined the GAB’s online seminar on the Code of Conduct of a Professional Player and Gender Sensitivity Issues together with Mitra, Boxing Division Head June Bautista, and Kara Mallonga.
Abueva was suspended for clothes-lining TNT import Terrence Jones and for making lewd gestures and comments to the girlfriend of former Blackwater player Bobby Ray Parks Jr. in Phoenix’s previous game.
Just after his suspension took effect, Abueva’s wife also accused him of physical and sexual harassment. The two later made up.
The GAB seminar is among the prerequisites the country’s regulatory body for pro sports has set before it could give Abueva back his license that was revoked following his suspension.
Abueva is also set to undergo a mandatory drug test as part of the medical requirements, a procedure that should be done by a PBA-appointed doctor.
