DON ALLADO: I was not myself that night. August dela Cruz
Acting with “utmost judiciousness and compassion,” PBA commissioner Chito Salud yesterday fined Don Allado P500,000 and banned him for one conference for his tirades on Twitter where he accused the league of game-fixing.
Salud came up with the decision close to two hours after talking to Allado, who issued a public apology and retracted all his statements made on the social networking site after his team lost in a knockout match to Powerade Tuesday night.
“There is no game-fixing in the PBA and there never has been,” said Allado, who appeared before Salud together with Barako Bull coach Junel Baculi, team manager Raffy Casiao and his father Caloy, in his public apology.
The fine was a record in the league, with P300,000 going to the Players’ Trust Fund and P200,000 to be donated to a charitable institution of Allado’s choice.
“The penalty was imposed with utmost judiciousness and compassion,” Salud told the
Inquirer.
Allado said he will “man up and face the consequences” of his actions and that he will only appeal if a lifetime ban was meted out.
“I was not myself that night,” said Allado, who admitted to getting himself drunk as he tried to forget the pain of his team’s elimination Tuesday. “It was not my intention to bring the PBA into all of this. The PBA is my home and I will not do anything to harm its name.”
It was one of the most celebrated incidents in the history of the league, and the first under Salud’s watch. The fine topped the P200,000 former Talk ‘N Text coach Bill Bayno paid for lambasting the referees in 2002.
But the length of the ban doesn’t even come close to the one-season suspension Wynne Arboleda, of the defunct Burger King squad, got for mauling a Smart Gilas fan at courtside two years ago.
Allado ‘apologetic’
“He was apologetic,” Salud said of Allado. “He reiterated that his passion for the game got the best of him. But while I laud his passion, his actions cannot be tolerated.”
“I scolded him, a lot, just like any father would,” Caloy Allado told the Inquirer. “But I’ve known him for a lifetime and I know that he will face the consequences of his actions. If it’s not a lifetime ban, he will not appeal it.”
Allado said he made those statements because he felt scared after the loss to the Tigers.
“It was (a combination of) my frustration with the referees, missing out on (team by-phase) bonuses and my contract expiring,” the 14-year veteran said. “I felt it was a dead end. I was scared.”
Salud reminded players, league officials and everyone involved in the PBA to use all sorts of media to promote the league and not degrade it.