The Philippines has been acknowledged as the “epicenter of pool,” and some of the greatest players in the world are Filipinos. Legends Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante are just two of them.
Women’s pool is also beginning to emerge and make a name for itself, with diminutive Rubilen Amit and Iris Ranola showing the way.
Amit won the inaugural Women’s World 10-Ball Championship staged by Dragon Promotions last year, and also teamed up with Reyes to capture the inaugural staging of the World’s Mixed Doubles Championship.
Both major international events were telecast by the giant network ABS-CBN, giving it an added dimension of significance in terms of recognition and reach.
These events not only earned substantial prize money for our players but, more significantly, enhanced the country’s popularity and credibility internationally.
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Regrettably, all this seems lost on some petty bureaucrats at the Games and Amusements Board whose capacity to think rationally appears to be seriously impaired.
A certain Jun Bautista, reportedly the head of a GAB division that handles basketball and other professional sports, was said to have required Dragon Promotions to pay more than the usual fees for staging the ongoing Women’s
World 10-Ball Championship and the licenses of the competing international players.
Bautista apparently convinced GAB chair Juan Ramon Guanzon, who to his credit, eventually understood what was going on and decided not to go along with Bautista’s untenable position.
Simply put, the GAB refused to license the event or the players, unless the organizers agreed to pay the agency three percent of television rights, as well as gate receipts.
These are the stated requirements under Presidential Decree 871.
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Unfortunately for the GAB and its three percenters, entrance was free to the public. This means that there were no gate receipts, and ABS-CBN did not pay any rights fees for television.
Bautista, however, insisted on payment —which any half-wit would realize had no basis. How they planned to arrive at a figure only Bautista would know.
Bautista provided a hint when he suggested that Dragon Promotions pay the GAB a certain amount—a payment which has absolutely no basis in PD 871—through him, of course. The decree also has no provision for compromise in any form.
Instead of being grateful that respectable sports entities from abroad teamed up with an outstanding broadcast network to cover a sport passionately followed by millions, the nincompoops at the GAB engaged in pure harassment.
They even asked Dragon Promotions to comply with its obligations within 12 hours from receipt of Guanzon’s letter.
This is the kind of incompetence and dubious behavior that tends to drive away companies who wish to do business in the Philippines.
This is the price we are forced to pay when incompetents, who have no clue about the proper workings of a government agency, are put in charge.