FILE – PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial during a press conference Wednesday night. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—The PBA extended the deadline of application for Filipino-foreign players for the 2021 Rookie Draft to March 5 allowing the aspirants to secure their government papers.
PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial said the league’s Board of Governors had no problems in extending the deadline of submission as the Fil-foreign players will have to personally secure their proper certifications from the Bureau of Immigration and Department of Justice.
The original deadline for the applicants was on January 27.
“The Board allowed the Filipino-American players to submit their papers until March 5,” said Marcial in Filipino during a virtual press conference,Thursday.
Of the 97 players who submitted their applications for the rookie selection, 31 are Fil-foreigners.
Marcial said that he decided to tell the board to extend the deadline for the applicants since he read reports that some of the players weren’t able to fly to the Philippines due to the COVID-19 pandemic or government offices were closed for the holidays.
Sports agent Charlie Dy, back in January, said that his clients Jason Brickman, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, and Jeremiah Gray were in danger of not fulfilling their Draft requirements because they won’t be able to travel to the Philippines in time.
“I received news that these players are still in the US so they can’t fly here in time due to COVID-19 or it was still the Christmas season a while back,” said Marcial.
“So I decided to request the governors, there wasn’t any formal request really, because I just read the news so we extended the deadline to March 5.”