MANILA, 12 April — It’s now or never for the Pusan Asian Games-bound Philippine team.

Former two-time FIBA President Gonzalo “Lito” Puyat has urged the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) to form the national team the soonest possible time before it’s “too late”.

An acknowledged basketball scholar, Puyat somehow pressed the panic button as he warned the PBA that time was no longer on the Philippine team’s side.

Puyat said that time is running out, with only less than six months left for the national team to play together, and, obviously, the PBA needs to form the national quintet immediately “if we hope to do better than the past Asian Games”.

Six months is not enough time considering that one team is yet to be culled from Hapee-RP and Selecta-RP, two national candidates teams participating in the ongoing Samsung PBA Governors’ Cup.

“Opposition in Pusan will be very tough,” Puyat warned. “If our goal is to win back the Asiad gold, coach Jong Uichico and his assistants have to form the team right away rather than make them play as two teams in the ongoing PBA tournament.”

Since the PBA agreed to take responsibility in forming the Philippine team to the Asian Games in 1990, the country’s best achievement so far was a silver medal in Beijing in 1990. The Centennial Team finished third in Bangkok in 1998. In the Hiroshima edition of the games in 1994, the Philippine finished fourth.

The PBA has earmarked at least 20 million pesos for the formation, preparation and actual participation of the national team to the Asiad.

This was agreed upon by the members of the PBA board for as long as the pro league’s expenses do not exceed the budget used for its 1998 Asiad campaign in Bangkok.

Close to 24 million pesos was spent four years ago as part of the national team’s preparations, including its stint in the PBA Centennial Cup and an inter-state tour of US where the nationals went up against tough collegiate squads.

Interestingly, the PBA is spending more on scouting the opposition — a very crucial factor to win the elusive gold.

A Philippine team, coached by Ron Jacobs and bannered by Hector Calma, Alfie Almario, Jong Uichico, Tonichi Yturri and Rey Cuenco, won the 1982 RP Youth crown against China with the help of a scouting mission.

“And they should form the team immediately,” said Puyat while recalling the one key factor, other than the home court advantage, that enabled the Filipino cagers to win the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) title in 1973.

Puyat noted that it took one year for the nationals to play together before they claimed the 1973 ABC crown in Manila.

Puyat, who was then the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) president, tapped the late Tito Eduque as head coach and sportsman Dante Silverio as team manager. Eduque and Silverio formed the 15-man national team that included three alternates.

For the record, the shortest preparation for the Philippine team was in 1990 when national coach Robert Jaworski only had a month for the formation before the Beijing tournament.

The Philippine Centennial team, handled by Alaska coach Tim Cone in 1998, played against US NCAA teams and even won the Jones Cup crown before settling for third place in the Bangkok joust.

Uichico is planning to make the cut during the Commissioners Cup and the participation in the Governors’ Cup is part of the tryouts for the 12 slots in the Philippine team that will be seeking to win the basketball gold back to the country after 40 long years. Puyat stressed that China is not the only team the Philippines has to worry about in Pusan.

“Lebanon will be tough to beat. And so are Korea, Japan and other Middle East countries,” he said.

Although no tournaments are slated for the Philippine team against possible Asiad opponents, scouting missions have been sent abroad.

Uichico vowed to intensify the Philippines’ scouting mission abroad. The coaching staff has put its scouting mission in motion while at the same time gearing up the national buildup at home barely seven months before the actual campaign in Pusan.

Uichico has tasked American coach Paul Howard, a good friend of Jacobs, to help the Philippines in scouting China and Lebanon in their stints in the world championship in Indianapolis, which will run from August to September.

In February, Ginebra mentor and national assistant coach Allan Caidic and Coca-Coca assistant Binky Favis were sent to scout potential national players in the Japan professional league.

Caidic said the Philippine team aspirants remain far from being beaten by the Japanese team in Pusan. The Filipino “moles” stayed in Tokyo for five days to scout potential members of the Japanese national team.

They came back home carrying with them a vital report on the Japanese’s preparations for the quadrennial regional games where they are also considered as hot title contenders.

They had first-hand accounts of how the Japanese play, and immediately, their impression was that the Philippines’ brand of basketball is still better than the Japanese’s.

They watched four games of the semifinal round of the Japan Basketball League and videotaped actions of the top stars of the league who could well comprise the Japanese team.

Caidic said they spotted among others old Japanese team mainstays Kenichi Sako, Takehiko Orimo and Mekaeru Takahashi — or Michael Dorsey — and new sensation Japanese naturalized Eric McArthur.

Purefoods coach Eric Altamirano, on the other hand, is currently with Favis in observing Korean national players in South Korea.

Likewise, scouts will keep a watchful eye on Lebanon, particularly would-be national players of Lebanon, considered to be a rising power in the region.

Uichico plans to send one of his “spies” to watch the 13th ABC Champion’s Cup on April 28-May 5 at the MABA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur where Lebanon, to be carrying the colors of Al Sagese squad, will most likely be fielding in its top gunners.

Two of Lebanon’s ace shooters — Elie Mchantaf and Fadi Lel Katib — will be seeing action for Al Sagese.

Lebanon is also reportedly recruiting three Lebanese-American to beef up its lineup.

Lebanon finished behind perennial champion China in the ABC with a team backstopped by two Lebanese-Americans, Joseph William Vogel and Richard Hallet.

Vogel is a 6-foot-11, 245-pound center who played for Lebanon during the 1999 McDonalds Championships won by the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

However, it is still unclear if the two are the same reinforcements Lebanon is pursuing to boost its chances of winning the title in Pusan.

In Kuala Lumpur, most of the national team players by different countries, particularly China, other Middle East countries, are expected to see action in the ABC Champions Cup in May, while in Taipei, the Jones Cup is scheduled in June. Uichico expects to spot the Arab teams in Malaysia and some other teams in Taipei.

The national mentor said monitoring the former Russian states is what the coaching staff has a hard time doing.

“Right now, the best thing we have is the fact that there are club tournaments. But the players for the national team are usually scattered in different clubs so we don’t know where to scout their national team as a team,” said Uichico.

Uichico’s wariness for the former Russian states lies in the fact that Kazakhstan nearly pulled off a pair of upsets against the Philippines in the 1998 Asiad, with the Centennial Team barely escaping for a third-place finish.

China and South Korea, the traditional pre-tournament favorites, have usually taken the top two slots in the quadrennial Games, but Japan, the Philippines, the former Russian states and Middle Eastern countries are expected to offer stiffer opposition this time around.

“Right now, all we can rely on are tapes from previous tournaments where these teams played. But we want a fresher look at them as much as possible before the Asian Games begin,” he explained.

So far, Uichico has already viewed over 20 tapes of games from the last edition of the Asian Games in 1998. Uichico is following former national mentor Jacobs’ philosophy to the letter, that is to scout the players individually in the belief that if one knows how the team’s top guns move, anticipating the style of play would be easier.

Uichico’s battle plan for the Pusan Games is similar to the one drawn up by Jacobs, who suffered a stroke after initial tryouts for the 24 slots in the pool. Under the two-team set-up, most of the national players, however, are playing hurt.

Kenneth Duremdes, Olsen Racela, Danny Ildefonso, Johnny Abarrientos, Danny Seigle, Mick Pennisi and Erik Menk and nursing various injuries and have missed some of their team’s games in the Governors’ Cup.

With most of the Filipino players out with a cocktail of injuries, focus will be on the Fil-foreign players who, many believe, will outnumber the pure local talent in the Philippine team.

Meanwhile, the PBA said it would welcome any probe on Fil-foreign players seeking spots into the national team, saying the campaign to reclaim the throne in Pusan should not be spoiled by debates on race or personalities.

If ever it pushes through, the planned Senate inquiry on the inclusion of foreign-bred players could deal a severe blow to the country’s ambitious and yet determined bid to regain Asian basketball supremacy. The Senate inquiry would seriously impair the timetable set by the national team.

Twelve of the 27 players in the candidates’ pool are Fil-foreign players, and some of them, like Eric Menk, Paul Asi Taulava and Danny Seigle, are considered shoo-ins to the 15-man team which Uichico will name after the Governors’ Cup.

Other half-bred Filipino players in the national training pool are Ali Peek, Chris Jackson, Rafi Reavis, Jimmy Alapag, Davonn Harp, Mick Pennisi, Andy Seigle, Rudy Hatfield and Noy Castillo.

The Fil-foreign players, obviously, are oozing with height, heft, speed and talent giving the Philippines the best chance of beating the opposition in Pusan, most notably China.

PBA spokesman Musong Castillo said the pro league’s foremost concern is to select the deserving players who would make up the national team.

And the coaching staff aims to put together the best team possible for the Pusan hostilities — a goal it plans to pursue without prejudice to who ends up making the squad being formed by Uichico.

“We are not talking about personalities here. We are talking about the players’ ability and worthiness to help the country’s cause in the Asiad,” said Castillo as he reacted to reports that the Senate is set to launch an inquiry on Fil-foreign players who belong to the candidates pool.

The specter of seeing predominantly Fil-foreign players forming the fourth team of professional cagers to be sent to the quadrennial games has reportedly sparked an uproar within the league, more so from homegrown talent who never even made the candidates’ pool.

The scorching debate over the issue of race or personalities may even touch down the Senate after some players sought the help of Sen. Robert Barbers, chairman of the Senate Committee on games, amusement and sports who they hope would launch a probe on these players.

Sen. Barbers is reportedly set to question the formation of the Asian Games squad in the sense that Fil-foreign players are being favored over pure local talents.

League sources said Filipino players sought the help of Sen. Barbers regarding the issue, with players from at least two teams — FedEx and Purefoods — having affixed their signatures on the plan which, they hope, could also minimize the future entry of more Fil-foreign players in the PBA.

Such an inquiry, if it materializes, may focus on the legitimacy of the citizenship papers of majority of these Fil-foreign players.

Some players have reportedly tried to drum up the support of the league’s homegrown players in a signature campaign being covertly pushed through. A big percentage of the players have already signed the manifesto.

The league said it has done everything it could to address lingering doubts on the legitimacy of these players’ claim to Filipino citizenship, enforcing strict rules that require no less than a Department of Justice affirmation for entry in the league.

“As far as we are concerned, all Fil-foreign players in the PBA are certified Filipinos,” Castillo said. “Their citizenship has been affirmed and confirmed by no less than the justice department. Who are we to question the DOJ?” The citizenship of all Fil-Am candidates to the Asiad team have been affirmed by the DOJ and, as such, they should be accorded the same rights as any citizen in this country, Castillo said.

Prior to the national training teams’ stint in the Governors’ Cup, the league also advised Fil-foreign players with no prior stint in the PBA to secure affirmations of their citizenship from the DOJ before being allowed to play.

“We do believe they deserve to be in the candidates’ pool, and possibly the national team, Castillo said.

Three players who joined the tryouts last December were denied the chance to represent the Philippines in the Asian Games after they failed to get the DOJ approval. Among them were Chris Clay and Jeffrey Flowers of the MBA, and Mike Cortez of La Salle.

“We’re not looking at these players as simply Fil- foreign players. They are Filipinos. They’ve been cleared by the DOJ and therefore, they enjoy the right of every other Filipino next door.

“Whether you’re a Fil-American, Fil-Tongan, Fil-Japanese or whatever, you cannot play in the PBA, much more represent the country in international competitions, if you’re not cleared by the DOJ,” Castillo said.

“It’s not supposed to be the personality of the player but his talent.

Twelve of the 27 remaining hopefuls are Fil- foreign players but there will be homegrown talents that are also shoo-ins for the national team,” he said.

The PBA also clarified that Alaska’s Don Allado and Ginebra’s Mark Caguioa and Jay Jay Helterbrand were never considered Fil-Americans and that they never needed any clearance from the DOJ because they are Filipinos.

“They’re not Fil-Ams. It just so happened that they were raised in the US or have stayed there for a long time,” he explained.