INQUIRER Sports

THE RINGING tone of a text message rudely roused me from deep slumber early Saturday morning.

It was about 3 a.m. and I wondered, who could be texting at such an unholy hour.

I tried to open my eyes to read the message, but I could only manage to show narrow slits.

?Help! Urgent! Please call police and send media people at Block 10, 1012 Ville de Palme, Barangay Santiago, General Trias, Cavite. The lives of my sister Antonette?s family are being threatened by a group of armed men headed by a certain Loloy Loyola, son of the barangay captain. They are all dying of fear. Local police are not responding. Salamat, Abe King Jr.

The number that registered was a US number but it was not in my directory.

At the time I was reading the message, I did not even notice that it came from a US number. I was too sleepy, having turned in at almost two in the morning.

Who could be using Abe?s number, I wondered. I was sure that it was a hoax to drag me to Cavite, for a holdup, most likely.

I paid no attention and went back to sleep.

A few minutes later, the text message alarm sounded again. The texter sent the landline and cellphone numbers of Antoinette in Manila, and urged me to get in touch.

I ignored the message and went back to sleep, feeling somewhat triumphant that the prankster or con man did not succeed in getting me out of bed.

***

Bright and early the next day, I was again roused from sleep by a call from a veteran colleague. He said PBA legend Abe King had texted from the United States seeking his help.

The same message that was sent me was also sent to my colleague.

But unlike me, my fellow-scribe believed that the message was authentic and Abe King?s sister and her family were indeed facing imminent danger.

?Abe?s brother-in-law and nephews and nieces are all American citizens,? the scribe revealed.

Yesterday morning, he went to ABS-CBN, looked up some friends and reported the incident.

The television network immediately acted on the report.

Yesterday, I tried to call Antoinette to ask for details, but she did not respond. I wanted to go to the root of the problem, but even my esteemed colleague would not talk about the incident. All he could say was that I need not worry and that I did not need to lift a finger because everything had been taken care of. As of presstime, I was still waiting for an update but my colleague and company seem to be totally focused on the Pacquiao-Cotto fight scheduled this morning.

Late last night, I asked Abe if the assault on his sister?s family might have something to do with a shooting incident that happened between Abe and some goons years ago.

As far as I can remember about the incident, armed men also barged in Abe?s house while he was home and he was forced to shoot in self-defense, killing one of them.

But that was many years ago. I don?t suppose this was a case of vendetta.

Whatever, I promise to get to the bottom of this incident.