MANILA, 14 March 2003 — Take it from the acknowledged Philippine basketball’s Living Legend himself, Robert “Sonny” Jaworski.
Once the most popular player in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and now a senator of the republic, Jaworski has advised players and officials of the professional league to be responsible in promoting “clean living.”
His timely remark came in the aftermath of the controversy that involved Asi Taulava of Talk ‘N’Text and Dorian Peña of San Miguel, who were slapped two-game suspensions each for failing drug test. The two Fil-foreign cagers were tested with traces of marijuana during a random test conducted by league physician Ben Salud under the direction of the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) before the start of the 2003 PBA season. League tests on urine samples of the two players last Feb. 17 showed traces of marijuana. The findings were confirmed in a separate test conducted by the PNP Crime Laboratory a week later.
The results of the tests took PBA officials by surprise since this case was unprecedented in the 29-year history of the country’s Premier Basketball League.
The PBA could not make an outright decision on what penalty to impose on the erring players, this being the first time a local player had been found to have taken a banned substance.
Saying the drug problem among players is the league’s responsibility, Jaworski urged the PBA to implement tougher rules to effectively deal with the menace.
“Drug addiction or the simple use of prohibited substance is a disease,” said the former Ginebra playing-coach, “therefore, the whole PBA family, I believe, should treat this as a family problem because of its social implications.”.
Jaworski, who turned 57 last week, said the PBA should have conducted a more extensive approach in its drug testing, considering that the current condition offers numerous “temptations to the country’s multi-millionaires.”
“The PBA, and this includes the member clubs, is extremely responsible for curbing its proliferation and solving the problem. To this, I mean the league should address this social problem direct from its roots — not by a band-aid solution that would not solve the problem in its entirety.”
“The PBA has a social obligation since it is in the forefront of sports and it is expressing discipline and commitment to the public, most especially on our youth. They are responsible in promoting clean life,” he said.
Jaworski said the two-game suspensions slapped on drug offenders Taulava and Peña were too light for the league to send a strong message to the other players.
Instead of a two-game suspension for first-timers, Jaworski said, the erring players should be suspended for one month without pay while undergoing a mandatory rehabilitation scheme.
He said the league should impose mandatory testing for all the players to rid its ranks of the problem completely.
“What the PBA should do is to conduct a thorough test on all its players, not merely a random test like they’ve been doing. And this should involve all its member clubs,” Jaworski said.
He, however, cautioned against condemning drug victims, who he said need all the sympathy, especially from league management.
Taulava and Peña, instead of being condemned as drug users, should be helped, Jaworski pointed out.
“They’re just mere victims. They should not be condemned. The drug dealers should be punished, instead, because they’re the roots of this problem,” he said.
Jaworski called for a stricter penalty on Taulava and Peña but stressed the need to prevent the players from committing the mistake again.
Villanueva said the GAB’s new policy on marijuana use applies only to local players. Imports will immediately be deported and banned for life once they are found using the substance. He added that the GAB has also installed stringent measures on the use of other banned substances such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine hydrochloride, a drug locally known as “shabu.”
Interestingly, Taulava and Peña still got playing permits from the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) after presenting certificates saying they would submit to a drug rehabilitation program. The GAB has suspended them for two games. GAB chairman Eduardo Villanueva said undergoing a six-month rehabilitation scheme as called for in the certificate would not mean Taulava and Peña were drug dependents.
Rehabilitation in their case would be in the form of counseling and not treatment, he said. Villanueva said the players need only to enroll in any GAB-accredited institution for “moral valuation,” which is drastically different and less severe than those imposed on addicts or habitual users who even have to undergo therapy in most cases.
Under the moral valuation program, the GAB chief pointed out, Taulava and Peña would enroll in a seminar that would be held once or twice a week. Each session, presided over by qualified doctors, would last anywhere between 30 minutes to one hour and would mainly involve counseling.
The rehabilitation program certificates came from the Makati Medical Center, a hospital accredited by the GAB.
Villanueva said that after six months both players should present a medical report giving them a clean bill of health, so the GAB could clear them of any liability.
The chief of the government’s licensing and regulatory body for pro sports said Taulava and Peña can still play while undergoing rehabilitation for drug use in an obvious bid to clear up matters between the GAB and the PBA, whose relationship has been strained of late due to the issue of the penalties that should be slapped on the two cagers. Under two GAB board resolutions passed last Feb. 27, penalties imposed on the two should include a two-game suspension each, further testing for drugs before each game for the duration of the All-Filipino, and a six-month rehab program.
PBA Commissioner Noli Eala has already slapped the first two penalties on the players but questioned the need for the rehab program, which he pointed out are usually intended for addicts or habitual users.
Eala said the suspensions slapped by the league on Taulava and Peña are enough, adding other sanctions are unnecessary.
“The PBA does not conform with your requirement that a six-month rehabilitation program is imperative,” Eala wrote to Villanueva, explaining that subsequent drug tests on both players yielded negative results.
