Nothing new from Mariano
I didn’t mean to be rude but I came close to stifling a yawn when billiards manager Perry Mariano started to talk about corruption and thievery in the national sports associations. He talked of officials pocketing money appropriated by the Philippine Sports Commission for athletes and athletes’ equipment, or how some unauthorized officials managed to dip their hand into the funds in the first place.
I took a sip of the cappuccino in front of me, hoping that it would rouse, if not stimulate, my interest in what Perry was talking about. I’ve heard the same complaint countless times.
The sad thing is nobody could do anything about the situation.
For all it’s worth, Perry said forming a ministry of sports, run by the government, would solve most of the ills of Philippine sports.
The manager of world billiards champ Dennis Orcollo and president of the BMPAP (Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines), Perry invited me for coffee one rainy night early this week, in a café near my West Triangle home. When he arrived, he had a huge Manila envelope tucked under his arm
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Perry also talked about the not too bright state of the sport of billiards in the country today, and informed me that the game’s woes were not confined to having two rival associations.
He said the billiards players have been complaining about not getting the money allotted to them by the PSC or getting only a portion of what was due them. “They suspect that an official in the organization was pocketing what rightfully belonged to them,” he said.
This, he said, was also the sentiment of managers who got no reimbursement for their legitimate expenses.
Perry then pulled a sheaf of papers from the Manila envelope and handed them to me. One was a letter he had written to PSC chair Ritchie Garcia in behalf of the BMPAP requesting for a copy of all financial assistance extended by the commission to the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) where Arturo “Bong” Ilagan is the president and Aristeo “Putch” Puyat the chairman.
The second letter contained the response of Garcia and a summary of the report Perry had requested.
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“We made the request in an effort to uphold the welfare of billiards players in the Philippines, particularly those who are members of the BSCP. It is also to ensure that funds meant for the development of billiards players, as well as the sport of billiards, are really spent for the purpose for which they were requested.”
The long-haired Mariano warned that any irregularity on the part of the the BSCP will not be condoned by the BMPAP.
Perry said his association just wants to get the figures, “and from that we can determine where the funds were spent. We will know if the money meant for the athletes is being pocketed by an official with a very bad reputation.”
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This is not going to be welcome news to those concerned.
Starting next season, members of the coaching staff of PBA teams will no longer be allowed to “moonlight” as television broadcast panelists.
The proposal will most likely come from PBA commissioner Chito Salud who believe that broadcasters officially connected with a PBA team is inclined to be biased.
Right now, there seems to be more panelists connected with a PBA team, compared with those without affiliation.
Offhand, I could think of the following: Ronnie Magsanoc is assistant coach of Meralco, Andy Jao is Rain or Shine consultant, Alex Compton is Powerade assistant coach while Richard Del Rosario holds the same post at Rain or Shine.