PBA chief Willie Marcial to meet with ‘ligang labas’ participants
FILE – Rain or Shine’s Beau Belga and NLEX’s JR Quinahan match up during a game in the 2022 Philippine Cup at Araneta Coliseum. PBA IMAGES
PBA players who recently took part in unsanctioned exhibition games known as “Ligang Labas,” including one that ended in a brawl, are set to explain their side before commissioner Willie Marcial on Wednesday.
Marcial confirmed the scheduled meeting which had been delayed due to a number of engagements that included those related to the Fiba World Cup draw.
Article continues after this advertisementAmong those summoned are NLEX’s JR Quinahan and Rain or Shine’s Beau Belga, who were the principal figures in a melee that marred an exhibition between a local team and a foreign squad in the Cebu town of Carmen more than a week ago.
Magnolia’s Jio Jalalon and NorthPort’s Robert Bolick also saw action in that game, but didn’t take part in the brawl based on videos that came out on social media.
The incident has led to the discovery of other exhibitions participated by the said players, along with Rain or Shine’s Rey Nambatac and NorthPort’s Arwind Santos.
Article continues after this advertisementPBA cagers are barred from taking part in games of similar nature unless they were given the go-signal by their mother teams.
Turns out their outside activities were done without permission, resulting in their teams to either impose sanctions or awaiting penalties from the league.
Rain or Shine fined Belga a salary worth 15 days after it was discovered that the bruising big man also played in Davao and Laguna while Nambatac was handed a lighter penalty of losing a two-day salary.
Quinahan is said to have drawn the ire of NLEX, which was initially upset over his Cebu appearance as the team was in the impression that the veteran big man is still nursing an injury.
Meanwhile, a NorthPort insider said Bolick and Santos also failed to inform the team of their exhibition cameos.
