Will the respected tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan end up apologizing to the public a second straight time after the Fiba World Cup slated in Spain later this month?
You see, MVP offered no resistance. He stood alone and owned up to the fault in order to assure and assuage the paying public following the ill-fated Gilas Pilipinas “Last Home Stand” tune-up match against a stellar NBA group at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last month.
He offered to refund tickets and humbly apologized after the program crashed in fragments to the disappointment and dismay of Filipino fans.
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Of course, there should be no apology even if MVP’s Gilas Pilipinas team crashes out after only the first round of this year’s Fiba World Cup.
With the awesome company our national team has in its preliminary round campaign in Spain—Argentina, Croatia, Puerto Rico, Senegal—Filipino fans should be happy and thankful enough if Gilas Pilipinas happens to trip the representative African squad.
And no fretting, please.
The World Cup stint of the national team in Spain should, in fact, also be a proud celebration for Filipino basketball fans.
The campaign should no longer be a mere test of the fabled never-say-die fighting Pinoy spirit, which also helped gleefully push back Philippine basketball back onto the international centerstage.
For the record, MVP was virtually all alone when he first took a shot at that dream stint in the Fiba World Cup.
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MVP has helped hugely in re-confirming that Filipino basketball belongs among the world’s best.
The least said about the calamitous NBA-Gilas fiasco for now, the better.
Basketball fans should now prepare to follow the campaign of the national team in Spain starting late this month.
But hold it for a moment, please.
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A report by veteran sportswriter Eddie Alinea for philboxing.com last week stated that the Games and Amusement Board (GAB), which operates under the Office of the President, was not too comfortable with the closure of the Gilas-NBA case.
Former PBA star Fritz Gaston, now a GAB commissioner, said they plan to dig into the core of the NBA-Gilas misdeal.
While commending Pangilinan for his gallantry and generosity, the GAB swore the truly guilty party should be made to answer for the debacle.
Gaston sounded convinced that the fiasco did not happen by accident.
The GAB should also make a public report on its projected investigation, no matter who gets hurt.
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(SALUTE: Born and raised in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija, the well-loved Fiscal Floro Florendo, Nueva Ecija chief prosecutor, breathed his last in his dignified rustic birthplace on Saturday after a silent bout with colon cancer. Floro, 63, a boyhood buddy of Inquirer columnist Percy Della, is scheduled for burial at the Cuyapo Catholic Cemetery tomorrow morning. Prayers please for this humble and charitable over-achiever.)