MANILA, Philippines—There was a time in Philippine sports when Filipino basketball players reigned supreme in Asia. In fact, Filipino players were almost at par with their American and European counterparts.
In the mid-1970s, the esteemed Gonzalo “Lito” Puyat, a longtime head of the Basketball Association of the Philippines, was elected twice as president of the powerful FIBA (International Basketball Federation), the governing body for basketball.
There were other notable achievements in the dash-and-dribble sport.
I’m pretty sure that basketball old timers fondly recall the golden years when the Philippine team, captained by Ambrosio Padilla, finished fifth in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. They also remember the good times when the Philippines, sparked by the fabled Carlos Loyzaga and wily Lauro Mumar, finished a magnificent third in the 1954 World Basketball Championship in Rio de Janeiro.
And who could forget our string of successes in the Asian Basketball Conference (now FIBA-Asia Olympic qualifier) and the Asian Games basketball competitions where the Philippines was the perennial champion?
Worth recalling too, was the extraordinary feat of the Philippine Youth Team of the 1970s for scoring an amazing streak of 32 straight victories, a record that remained unmatched up to the present.
No wonder basketball is the country’s undisputed No. 1 sport.
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However, recent RP results in the region proved otherwise. In the just-ended 7th Southeast Asia Basketball Association (Seaba) Champions Cup held Jakarta, Harbour Center-Philippines, bankrolled by sportsman Mikee Romero, could only finish second to Indonesia, the very Asian squad we used to whip before.
Something’s seriously wrong here. Over the years, the quality of Philippine basketball has continuously failed us.
In the Seaba fiasco, people are blaming officials of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas for being short-sighted. How on earth could these people, supposedly knowledgeable in basketball, fail to secure a FIBA clearance for RP import Sam Ekwe from the Nigerian Basketball Association? Ekwe is a 6-foot-8 behemoth from San Beda College.
As FIBA commissioner Lee Kak Kwan said: “The Philippines should be aware of the requirement being a regular participant of several FIBA-sanctioned tournaments.”
SBP executive director Patrick Gregorio said he had requested a clearance for Ekwe from the Nigerian association, but his request was left unanswered. After seven days, Gregorio considered his request approved, a big blunder on his part. What he should have done was to pursue the Ekwe case by immediately notifying the FIBA.
Just to stress my point, FIBA rules states that “if there is no response within the seven-day period, the requesting national member-federation shall immediately notify FIBA.”
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Gregorio has already tendered his resignation, effective May 31, for reasons he refused to explain. On the other hand, SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan has hinted he may step down because recent events tended to question his leadership.
In an interview with sportswriter Tito Talao of Tempo tabloid, Pangilinan was quoted as saying, “I wanna go. I don’t need this headache,” referring to his irritation over the distorted picture being painted of him by his critics.
“I don’t need this job,” he stressed.
Pangilinan explained, though, that he just couldn’t abandon the infant SBP. “I want to leave the organization in good hands.”
