Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio marched to Thailand during the Fiba Asia Champions Cup with a directive in mind, and that was to create change.
Panlilio wasn’t pleased when Fiba ruled Meralco forwards Chris Newsome and Cliff Hodge as non-Filipinos for the continental club tournament despite the two being ruled as locals in the PBA.
That, however, may change for the next editions of the Champions Cup after Panlilio talked with Fiba Executive Director-Asia Hagop Khajiran during the halftime break between the Bolts and Alvark Tokyo in changing the policy regarding Filipino-foreign players.
“Mission accomplished, that was the objective in coming over,” said Panlilio in a statement sent to the media.
Panlilio said he advised Meralco team managed Paolo Trillo to talk to Hagop about changing the eligibility rules in the Champions Cup regarding players with mix heritage but the Fiba official did not make an attempt to talk to Fiba administrator Zoran Radovic to discuss the SBP’s suggestion.
“The SBP just wants to be fair to the future teams who will represent the country, we must protect the interest of the club teams and the Filipino basketball fans in general,” added Panlilio. “We take our basketball seriously and it is the federation’s responsibility to compete with the best possible roster and have a chance to win.”
Panlilio said the Champions Cup, which is a club tournament, should have different eligibility rules with the country competitions of Fiba.
The PBA rules any player with a Filipino blood as a local while Fiba, especially in country competitions, has stricter regulations on players with dual bloodlines.
Fiba requires players, in the case of Filipino-foreign athletes, to have Philippine passport issued to them before they reach 16-years-old.
Panlilio said with PBA teams having several Filipino-foreign players in their roster who didn’t get PH passports before 16, Fiba needs to have looser eligibility requirements if they want the Philippine teams to compete in the Champions Cup.
“If Hagop’s stance is firm, then in the future no PBA team will be able to represent the Philippines in the Fiba Asian Champions Cup because almost all the teams have similar cases as Newsome and Hodge,” said Panlilio. “It is just counter-productive for club teams.”
“The SBP is one with them [Fiba] [in strengthening the Champions Cup] but they must adjust the eligibility rules in the Fiba-Asia Champions Cup.”