A P4,000 World 10-ball fee

EXCEPT FOR a sprinkling of silver hair, PBA legend Fritz Gaston’s overall appearance didn’t really change much since he retired from the pro  league more than 20 years ago.

Fritz still looked every inch an athlete at 6-feet flat. He must have religiously followed a  physical conditioning program through the years since he was voted one of the 10 sexiest men in sports by a weekly sports magazine decades ago.

Fritz was casually dressed in a collared shirt, blue jeans and tennis sneakers when I bumped into him at the red gate of the Araneta Coliseum during one of the games of the recently-concluded PBA championship series. He was toting a backpack. He said I was just the person he hoped to encounter that day.

The last time I had a talk with Fritz, we were both in Ratchasima, Thailand for the Southeast Asian Games. Fritz was head coach of the Philippine national women’s basketball team  that brought home a bronze medal.

* * *

Over a cup of coffee at a nearby café, Fritz happily informed me that he is back in sports. About a week ago, he said he was appointed one of two Games and Amusements Board representatives. The other is Mohammad Aquil Tamano, a lawyer.

“Aquil is in charge of the agency’s operations. I handle administration and finance. Ramon Guanzon replaced Eric Buhain as chair,” Fritz updated me.

Suddenly, I had a flashback. I remembered getting an article in my e-mail a few days back protesting a requirement by GAB for all professional billiards players to secure a GAB license, just like the PBA players.

From what I understand, the mandate has been in existence for years,  but the GAB has failed to  strictly implement it.

Fritz said the new GAB dispensation under the triumvirate of Guanzon,  Tamano and Gaston has been tasked  to  enforce Presidential Decree 871, which states that it is unlawful for any entity  “to conduct professional games without a permit from GAB.”

The same PD also requires pro players to secure annual licenses from the GAB.

If Fritz had doubts that his group could do it, it didn’t show.

“We’re only  doing our job,” said Fritz with confidence and optimism. He said the GAB had just signed a memorandum of agreement with the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation  prohibiting any professional athlete or player from participating “in any form of professional tournaments/sports competition in the country unless  he/she obtains the Special Work Permit (SWP) from the bureau and the professional license from GAB.    ”

* * *

Last Monday, during the World 10-Ball Championship press conference hosted by Sports 5 which is airing the event live over IBC 13, scribes Edwin Rollon and Lito Oredo alternately inquired about the GAB mandate.

Had the local participants secured their licenses and the foreign players their SWP from the BID?

Yen Makabenta, president of Raya Sports and Events, the outfit promoting the World l0-ball Championship in Manila, didn’t sound disturbed at all.

“It’s a form of harassment,” he said, practically dismissing the question. Whatever else he had to say I couldn’t hear very well.

Rollon tried to present some pertinent documents to show that GAB meant business this time, under the Aquino administration, but Makabenta wasn’t interested. The impression I got was he didn’t think of the government agencies involved too highly. He said he would make an appeal to Malacañang.

The billiards personality seated next to me said Makabenta must be suspecting that Putch Puyat, who heads a rival billiards group, must be behind the suspected harassment.

What will Makabenta do with the documents that will be served, if ever?

“I’ll throw them in the trash can,” he replied cockily. I don’t know if he’s aware that there was a man from GAB during the presscon.

I wondered what Fritz would do.

The following morning, I got a call from him. He said Makabenta had sent a representative bright and early to secure the required GAB permit for holding the event, but asked him to consider the payment “under protest.” The local players’ licenses and the SWP’s for foreigners will all be discussed while the tournament is ongoing, according to Fritz.

And how much did the Raya representative pay for the permit, I asked the GAB commissioner.

“Four thousand pesos.”

Four thousand pesos for all that sound and fury? I was shocked.