Excuses, excuses: Gilas program takes a hit

THE PERENNIAL problem in the national basketball team has cropped up again, just like a nagging itch that won’t go away.
With less than two months to go before the Philippines shoots for a berth in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil, the Gilas Pilipinas program just lost the country’s finest big man in June Mar Fajardo.
The 6-foot-10 franchise player of San Miguel Beer officially begged off on Wednesday night, citing his plantar fasciaitis on both feet and the lack of time needed for him to recover and get back in game shape.
Marc Pingris and LA Tenorio have also yet to show up for practice despite being named to the pool, and it is likely that they will never do so as nasty rumors have kept on circulating regarding their respective mother team’s unwillingness to lend them for national cause.
It is such a pity that these things are happening, a pity because of the high the Philippines — as a basketball-crazy nation — got after finishing second to Iran in the 2013 Fiba-Asia and after winning a game in the World Cup last year in Spain.
Can this still be solved?
Can this country, which embraces basketball like a religion, ever get everyone involved in the future?
Can the PBA formulate a solid enough plan for everyone to be on board and not disgrace this country that prides itself as the best basketball playing nation in the Southeast Asian region?
I’m hoping against hope. And I dare say why.
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The PBA is basically divided into three factions – the San Miguel group, the PLDT group and an independent duo in Alaska and Rain or Shine who can be very influential also, when need be.
San Miguel and PLDT each have three teams and both have friends in the other teams in the board, while Rain or Shine and Alaska basically act in the best interests of the league and are rarely swayed into voting if the topic will not benefit everyone.
Maintaining three teams each in the league will obviously make the owners of SMC and PLDT look out after their own interests.
It’s very safe to say that, for after all, these two groups are investing money multiplied by three compared to what the others dole out.
So, you cannot fault them if they want their interests served before anyone else’s.
And the ticklish part about the whole setup of Philippine basketball in general is that the PLDT group, which business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan owns, also controls the amateur basketball landscape.
Pangilinan is the chairman of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, the body that took over from the Basketball Association of the Philippines, which gives sanctions to Philippine teams playing internationally.
Ramon S. Ang, the San Miguel tycoon, is also a basketball nut like Pangilinan and it is not only in the PBA where they have crossed paths.
The two billionaires are also battling each other out in businesses all over the country, owning power plants, tollways and even stakes in the media.
They have, at one time or another, outbid each one in big projects or what have you.
It could be deep-rooted more than we will ever know.
And the Philippines is taking the hit as hard as it could on the basketball court.
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It is just quite odd to see that with their dominance of the PBA in the last two seasons, the San Miguel group does not have a representation in the Philippine Team which is supposed to be a gathering of the best players in the country.
Last season, San Mig Coffee, which is now known as Star, completed just the fifth Grand Slam in league history under Tim Cone.
In the season that just ended, San Miguel Beer won two of the three jewels staked — the Philippine Cup and the Governors’ Cup with its franchise player, June Mar Fajardo, winning the MVP for the second straight season.
And after the names of the players in the pool were released by the PBA on Monday night, there were three San Miguel umbrella players in there. None of them has shown up for national duty.
Fajardo has officially begged off because of plantar fasciaitis on both feet, Marc Pingris of Star is still on vacation in France with his family, while LA Tenorio of Barangay Ginebra said that he is fatigued and is begging off.
We’ve seen players from other countries play even with more serious injuries because their countries need them to be there and this basketball-crazy country is not buying Fajardo’s excuse and is looking at the corporate angle on why San Miguel players are absent.
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I have one very humble suggestion for the PBA to consider.
Only the PBA can put a stop to this and only the PBA can make the team owners act as one, if the one heading the organization has the guts to do so.
If the league really wants to help the country out in terms of lending its players to big international competitions, then why does the PBA not take the National Team under its wings permanently?
Sure, the PLDT group is helping out by bankrolling the team during tournaments. But it has seen the backlash of this practice in the last two Gilas teams.
Why not PBA make it the PBA-Philippine Team once and for all? In that way, no one faction gets the glory and the entire country will rejoice with it.
In doing that, with the PBA teams having all the funds and the logistics, the league can make it a 12-way split as far as expenses are concerned, making no player owe anyone a debt of gratitude in terms of bonuses and incentives.
With the players on break from their mother teams because they are going to play for the Philippines, the PBA should come in to foot the bill.
In this scheme, even teams that don’t have players in the National Team will also pay their dues in the 12-team split so that the National Team can be called a real national team.
But that’s just me. I just want what’s good for basketball in the country, because like every Filipino, I want to win.