The Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup can heave a sigh of relief as it avoided a huge financial storm on Friday.
Title sponsor Chooks-to-Go, which threatened to leave the league after a farcical match between two of its teams late Wednesday night, said it was staying on to support the tournament, which is aimed at providing a platform for talents from the south to showcase their skills.
How the league will stand under scrutiny from the Games and Amusements Board (GAB), however, remains to be seen.
“All is well. They (league officials) acted swiftly and judiciously,” said Chooks-to-Go president Ronald Mascariñas on Friday. “Let us help restore the integrity of the league. This is part of the package when we volunteered to sponsor the league. We are part of the league already.
“People of less character will run away at the first sign of trouble.”
Apologetic Lapu-Lapu
GAB chair Baham Mitra, meanwhile, told a radio interview on Friday that while his agency commends the swift action of the league on the erring squads, the regulatory body will launch a separate probe after it became apparent that the match between the Siquijor Mystics and the ARQ Builders Lapu-Lapu City Heroes fell prey to match manipulating efforts (See related story on this page).
“While we believe in self-regulation, it is also GAB’s mandate to look out for professional athletes’ welfare and professional sports in general,” Mitra said in an interview with dzRH on Friday night.
Mitra will look into the game-fixing angle even as he revealed that after talking to both squads, he felt that the Mystics weren’t exactly sorry for what happened.
“The people from Lapu-Lapu are regretful, sad and were apologetic. But when we talked to those from Siquijor, it seems there was no remorse,” he said.
“We do not condone this [kind of behavior]. All the more if there’s truth to the allegations of game-fixing,” he added. INQ