Pardo seeks PBA report on Talk N’ Text’s Dubai trip fiasco

MANILA—PBA chair Rene Pardo said yesterday he has asked commissioner Chito Salud to submit a complete written report on the debacle in Dubai which will be taken up in a special board meeting on Friday.

Pardo told the Inquirer that Salud had already explained to him what transpired but that the board needed a formal, comprehensive report that will allow the league’s governors to “settle the issue right away.”

The Texters were stranded in Dubai for nine hours after getting bumped off from their flight, apparently because the promoter failed to pay their tickets.

Pardo also wants to know why the Dubai trip was forged despite the league being “forewarned” by several credible officials that the promoter had been involved in several basketball-related snafus in Dubai.

Ateneo coach Norman Black disclosed that when Ateneo played La Salle also in Dubai some months ago the team’s passports were held by the hotel because of non-payment by the same promoter and it took a rich Dubai official who had befriended the Ateneo team to pay the bill so they could leave.

The owner of Barrio Fiesta in Dubai, Ishwar Chugani, said they “did not even have enough money to feed the teams after the game.”

Pardo said the board will also look into allegations that the PBA staff boarded the plane ahead of everybody else and left the Texters to fend for themselves at the airport.

The commissioner’s office is set to answer all the board’s questions on Friday and will produce a detailed report about the controversy.

This is the second time the league has ran into problems with promoters. The Boracay All-Stars event was also marred by unpaid bills.

Pardo said the organizer, Carlo Quevada, had already given his commitment last Monday to settle his account.