THE government still cannot allow the PBA to start its new season, but is ready to offer the next best thing.
Commissioner Willie Marcial yesterday said the teams can conduct full-contact scrimmages in venues of their choosing once the government gives the green light.
“Ipapadala na natin sulat sa IATF bukas and i-ka-calendar raw agad nila for discussion iyung request natin,” related Marcial, who met with Executive Secretary Salvador Mewdialdea and Sen. Bong Go in Malacanang last Wednesday in the company of Ginebra governor Alfreancis Chua.
“Once na pumayag sila, then puwede ng mag-umpisa ng practices ang lahat ng teams,” added Marcial.
That comes as a bit of consolation for the PBA since its main request of being allowed to start its season was thumbed down.
“Sinabi nila kailangan bumaba talaga ‘yung ating cases ng COVID. Kung hindi bababa, baka ‘di tayo makapaglaro,” said Marcial, who was joined in the press briefing by Chua.
The meeting, which lasted for about an hour, according to Marcial, also had one positive takeaway, with Go saying the government will help the league in terms of vaccine procurement.
The league plans to inoculate the entire PBA family before going into the season now projected to start by the second week of June at the earliest.
The PBA, the San Miguel Corp. and Manny V. Pangilinan groups and some of the other teams have placed orders for their own vaccines and Chua said it will now boil down to whichever gets the vaccines first.
“Kapag nauna ‘yung sa government, puwede nating hiramin and then pag dumating na ‘yung atin then isaisauli natin sa government,” was how Cha explained the deal.
Getting the entire league vaccinated still doesn’t guarantee the PBA would be allowed to start, however, and both Marcial and Chua appealed for help in prodding the populace to practice proper health and safety protocols so the infections would go down.
For the moment, and pending the IATF approval of the PBA’s request for scrimmages, teams can start scouting for venues outside NCR Plus for their 5-on-5 scrimmages.
Since most of the cases have been tallied in Metro Manila and its neighboring provinces of Rizal, Laguna Bulacan and Cavite, Marcial said the most feasible areas are those under the more relaxed quarantine status.
Marcial even offered his home province of Batangas, currently under GCQ and which has three wooden courts in Batangas City alone.
Pampanga, currently under MGCQ, is also a prime candidate as well as Ilocos Norte, which has previously offered to host not only practices but also the Philippine.
In order to practice in the areas they choose, teams must first meet all the requirements, made up of separate approvals from the IATF, JAO and LGU and PBA, the latter concerning health and safety protocols to be implemented.
