MANILA, Philippines—Yeng Guiao found a home as quickly as he left his old one.
The firebrand drillmaster and coach of the Philippine basketball team came to terms in principle with Burger King, the old Air21 franchise which he will handle when the import-spiced PBA Fiesta Cup opens Feb. 28.
“We have already agreed in principle to a two-year deal,” Guiao, winner of five championships with Swift and Red Bull, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer over the phone Wednesday. “Only the minor kinks are left to be ironed out.”
One of those kinks is Guiao’s wish to take along Roehl Nadurata, the former national player who has been his chief deputy over the years. Guiao will have Jorge Gallent as assistant at Burger King.
Guiao ended a nine-year relationship with Red Bull before the end of last year, having no material to make the Barako win as the team had, over the past three years, given up its star players for little in return because of financial constraints.
In a related development at Burger King, Mikee Romero, the man who made Harbour Centre great in the amateur Philippine Basketball League, will come in as a minority shareholder of the popular American hamburger chain in the next few months.
Sixty-percent of Burger King in the Philippines is owned by the Bert Lina Group of Companies, the same group that owns Air21 and FedEx. Romero, who also sold part of Harbour Centre to telecommunications mogul Manny V. Pangilinan, “will pump more money once the expansion (of Burger King) goes full blast.”
Romero, incidentally, will sit as the team’s alternate representative in the PBA board, something which he agreed to after being asked by Lina recently. Romero also said that Harbour Centre will remain in the PBL.
As of now, only the fees to be charged to Burger King are left to be determined by the Office of the PBA Commissioner.
Since Lina is just a majority owner of the company, the PBA can still charge Burger King a transfer fee that would amount to 10 percent of the current price of a franchise which is around P70 million.
