MANILA, 12 December 2003 — A repentant Jimwell Torion of the Red Bull team has formally appealed to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Office for the reduction of his suspension.

The ace pointguard made the move a few days after he committed a flagrant foul that broke the nose of Talk ‘N’ Text star Jimmy Alapag during the waning seconds of the deciding match of their quarterfinal series last week.

Alapag, the league’s top candidate for Rookie of the Year, suffered a fractured nose that required surgery.

Torion said he was shocked by the suspension, adding it would be hard to recover from it.

He sought for understanding and forgiveness from Alapag, the PBA fans, and his team.

“I didn’t mean to do it. I’m sorry, Jimmy,” said Torion.

The 28-year old Cebu-native cited compassion when he appealed his suspension to PBA Commissioner Noli Eala. He pleaded to the PBA Commissioner’s Office to reduce the penalty to three months.

He called the eight-month suspension “harsh”.

Torion stands to lose an estimated 2.2 million pesos with the eight-month suspension slapped by Eala and which will take effect in February next year. That is apart from the immediate 70,000 fine pesos.

This is believed to be the harshest penalty slapped on a player in league history. The 70,000-peso fine also eclipsed the 40,000-peso penalty slapped on Junthy Valenzuela also of Red Bull for hitting David Woods of Purefoods with a clothesline during the 2001 Commissioner’s Cup.

“I am humbly asking Commissioner (Noli Eala) to reconsider the penalties because, outside of basketball, I don’t know where else to get the finances to support my family,” said Torion.

This was Torion’s third set of punishment this season as he was canned for a game for fighting with Ginebra guard Bal David in a preseason game. Torion was fined 25,000 pesos.

He was also found guilty of using prohibited drugs in the mandatory drug test conducted by the league this year and sat out two more months.

“Based on these records, the PBA can’t help but issue those penalties. It is something we cannot tolerate,” said Eala.

Eala said he felt a “sense of rage” when he saw blood “oozing down the nose” of Alapag, calling what he witnessed “a gory scene.”

The 5-foot-8 Torion, who appeared before the commissioner’s office, was in tears during his one-hour meeting with Eala.

He gave no excuses and sought for understanding and forgiveness from Alapag - a Fil-American — the PBA fans, and his team, according to the commissioner.

“Nobody instructed me to commit a hard foul. I just snapped,” Torion said, according to Eala, who nonetheless exercised his full powers in disciplining the erring player.

“This is a sad day for me,” Eala said. “ But my responsibility is to the league, to instill discipline and maintain professionalism in the highest degree. I also want to stress that I will never allow any type of unsportsmanlike conduct in the league.”

Eala said the league is sending a “clear message that acts like these will never be tolerated.”

“What he did is something the PBA cannot tolerate,” said Eala. “We stand on the ideals of professionalism and sportsmanship and no matter how huge the stakes are, or how grave defeat is, what Jimwell did can never be justified.”

Torion is a father of five, with his youngest born the day after the suspension was handed down by Eala. He also sends his youngest sister to nursing school.

He said the suspension would drastically affect his livelihood.

“Many people depend on me and my only means of livelihood is playing basketball,” he said.

This early, Torion is already feeling the effects of the suspension. He has returned his Honda CRV to the car company for fear of not sustaining the 21,000 pesos a month amortization. He already recovered 200,000 pesos of his 250,000-peso downpayment for the car.

His 84,000 pesos a month payment for his house in Vermont Royale in Antipolo is also in jeopardy. He now commutes daily from his residence.

Also in jeopardy is his support for the nursing studies of his sister Vivian at Trinity College and his eight-year-old daughter Barbara Tracy in San Benildo.

Torion signed a three-year contract with Red Bull. After averaging 12.9 points as a rookie, he was signed to a two-year extension up to the end of 2004. His monthly salary is 250,000 pesos this season. It increases to 275,000 pesos next year.

He said he’s at a loss as to how he would be able to support his family since he would no longer be receiving his monthly paycheck.

Torion’s sophomore season saw Red Bull capturing its first-ever PBA title in the Second Conference. Last year, Torion hit at a 5.4 clip and averaged 19 minutes a game as Red Bull won a second crown. In 11 contests so far this season, Torion averaged 9.5 points.

Danny Espiritu, Torion’s agent, said his client intends to apologize in person to Alapag.

“Since (Alapag) was the aggrieved party, (apologizing to him) was the appropriate first step,” Espiritu said. “Our main concern right now is to reach out to Jimmy. It’s only proper to appear in front of the person that we offended.”

Although he felt that Torion and Alapag would eventually patch things up, Espiritu said that he would “understand if Alapag still refused Torion’s reconciliatory gesture now, given what happened.”