P2-M fine just fine for Painters walkout

Rain or Shine team owners. Photo by Nuki Sabio/PBA

MANILA, Philippines — Rain or Shine was sporting enough to accept the hefty fine of P2 million slapped on the Elasto Painters Friday for staging a partial walkout in Game 6 of the PLDT MyDSL PBA Philippine Cup Finals which the San Mig Coffee Mixers won  last Wednesday.

Co-owners Terry Que and Raymund Yu also justified the walkout instigated by coach Yeng Guiao, saying it was part of the coaching tactic of the short-tempered mentor, who  also staged a similar action while  handling Red Bull in 2006.

“This is a case of a partial walkout, which under our rules is defined as the whole team leaving the playing court and returning to continue to play within the allotted time,” said PBA Commissioner Chito Salud after a meeting with  Que,  Yu, Guiao, RoS governor Mamerto Mondragon and team manager Boy Lapid at the PBA office in Libis, Quezon City.

“They [Que and Yu] are gentlemen-sportsmen and they made it clear to me that they are ready to face the consequences,” said Salud.

“During the meeting, it was made clear by coach Yeng that the walkout was not a premeditated move on the part of the ballclub and he further asserted that it was his own decision to leave the playing premises with the team,” Salud added.

Under league rules, a team that walks out of a game for good gets a fine of P10 million. A team that returns to play gets a P2-million penalty.

With the calls not going their way, Guiao herded his team to the dugout with still over 11 minutes to play in the second quarter, drawing jeers from the 20,337 fans at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City.

The Elasto Painters later returned to the court after delaying the game for almost 10 minutes. The San Mig Coffee Mixers eventually won, 93-87, to complete a 4-2 series victory.

“It was a spontaneous act. Pent-up frustrations on the part of coach Yeng,” said Yu of Guiao’s brief pullout.  “We didn’t have an inkling that our team will go to the dugout. It only hit me when I saw one of our utility guys pulling the Gatorade cooler.”

Guiao, who was fined P100,000 on top of a one-game suspension for flashing a “dirty finger” in the semifinals against Petron Blaze, is also facing an extra fine of P50,000 for the last of the multiple technical fouls he had incurred throughout the conference.

Guiao was slapped a total of P326,400 for the 13 technical fouls he he absorbed in the all-Filipino conference.

“The fine, in effect, would come up as a Rain or Shine donation to the trust fund of the players, which goes to education and scholarship,” Salud explained.

Guiao also instigated a partial walkout in Game 4 of Red Bull’s semifinal tussle with San Miguel Beer. Red Bull was fined P400,000 and Guiao P100,000 then.

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