The PBA D-League has slapped a lifetime ban and a whopping P500,000 fine on Cagayan Valley coach Alvin Pua for again assaulting a game official.
“This is the last straw,” said PBA commissioner Chito Salud yesterday after meeting with several Cagayan team officials.
“There is plainly no room for hotheads and hooligans in basketball, let alone other sports. Mauling a game official can never be justified in any way.”
Pua, who punched referee Benjie Montero during the Rising Suns’ 106-94 win over Liver Marin last Thursday, was a no-show in the meeting despite a summons from the Commissioner’s Office.
Salud said the “dastardly act” prompted the league to ban Pua “from all PBA-related activities” and recommend to the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas that “the ban be enforced in all SBP-sanctioned tournaments and/or activities.”
“We view this latest act of coach Pua to be despicable and offensive to the sensibilities of all sports stakeholders and aficionados,” Salud said in a statement. “It lays waste to the concept of sportsmanship and is a complete breakdown in a coach’s responsibility to do what is right for the sport and the fans.”
Pua, who had been suspended and fined several times since 2012, argued a call during the second quarter of the match before walking toward the game officials huddled at the sideline, where he struck Montero from behind and then punched him on the face.
Salud said the league will assist Montero, who sustained a gash on his cheek, “in any civil or criminal action that he might take against Coach Pua.”
The league also meted a P20,000 fine on Cagayan team manager Frederic Collado for “criticizing the quality of officiating in order to justify Coach Pua’s transgression.”
Collado told reporters that Cagayan might pull out of the league after the conference.
Last December, Pua was also meted a three-game suspension and a P50,000 fine for assaulting two referees in a game.
In 2012, he also served a three-game ban for punching a referee in a tune-up match.