WHILE others are bleeding to make ends meet in the face of the pandemic, players in the recently-launched 2021 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup, a professional basketball league, were given the chance to showcase their skills and earn an honest living.
But two teams — the Siquijor Mystics team and the ARQ Builders-Lapu Lapu City — made a mockery of the game treated like religion by Filipinos last Wednesday, clearly playing to lose, and were promptly given the boot and fined by the league.
In a video statement made by league Chief Operations Officer Rocky Chan with other league officials, he announced that the Mystics and certain players from the Heroes have committed “disgraceful acts to the sport we love the most.”
Chan said the Siquijor team has been banned from the league, while certain players and coaches from the Heroes have been suspended and fined as they paid a steep price in dishonoring the game that put food on the table for their families.
Mystics players Joshua Alcober, Ryan Buenafe, Jan Penaflor, Gene Bellaza, Michael Calomot, Frederick Rodriguez, Jopet Quiro, Isagani Gooc, Miguel Castellano, Juan Aspiras, Peter Buenafe, and Michael Sereno were all banished, including their coach Joel Palapal and his staff.
ARQ Builders-Lapu Lapu City tactician Francis Auquico was fined P30,000 and suspended for the remainder of the first round while members of his staff, namely, Jerry Abuyador, Alex Cainglet, Jon Carlo Nuyles, Hamilton Tundag, and Roger Justin Potot, were all fined P20,000.
The Heroes’ Rendell Senining was suspended for the rest of the tournament and fined P15,000. Vincent Tangkay, Reed Juntilla, Monbert Arong, Dawn Ochea, and Ferdinand Lusdoc were fined P15,000 each and suspended for the rest of the first round.
“We hold ourselves and each of our players to a high standard,” Chan said. “Thus, we will not tolerate these actions.”
Chan said similar incidents in the future will merit a P1 million fine and expulsions from the league that got a last-minute backer in Chooks-to-go last week.
Chooks-to-Go president Ronald Mascariñas expressed his disappointment at what transpired during the game, held on just the fourth game day of the league. In a letter sent to Chan, Mascariñas said the game was a humiliation to the integrity of the league.
“We have witnessed with deeply disturbing concern how the quality and integrity of the games in the league have plunged steeply in just a week’s run,” Mascariñas said in his letter.
The penalties were handed down after a probe by VisMin officials and the Games and Amusements Board.
The Mystics-Heroes match was called off at the half last Wednesday night at the Alcantara Civic Center in Alcantara, Cebu. ARQ Builders-Lapu Lapu City held a 27-13 lead when the game was halted for good due to “technical difficulties.”
Videos of the game that surfaced online proved otherwise.
Players muffed free throws and open lay-ups, while Senining attempted left and right-handed free throws in one trip to the line, both of which he badly missed.
The controversial game set a firestorm in the country’s basketball circles, with players and coaches taking to social media to vent their ire.
PBA star Kiefer Ravena of NLEX said what happened set a bad example especially to the youth.
“Respect the game. Iyan nagbigay hanapbuhay sa ating lahat. Sana hindi tularan ng mga bata, lalo na sa Visayas at Mindanao kasi para sa kanila iyang ligang iyan. Para mayroon silang sarili nilang liga,” Ravena said on Twitter.
“Nakakatuwa na ganoon ang growth ng basketball, pero kung ganito ang gagawin nila, sana puyat lang sila, kulang sa extra work, masama ang gising o kahit anong dahilan at hindi dahil sa mga comments ng karamihan ng tao.”
Magnolia veteran big man Marc Pingris also blasted the teams.“Sakit tignan,” Pingris said.
“Ice tubig lang sa amin, nakikipagsuntukan pa ako. Ito bastusan talaga, naglaro pa kayo!
Hindi sana nag-DOTA na lang kayo.”
“Binabastos niyo iyong laro na mahal na mahal ko!”
