Controversy in PRISAA gold medal match

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

I WAS officially invited so I attended the news conference of the PBA Legends/Movie Stars Goodwill Games held at Lyceum Northwestern University (LNU) multipurpose hall last Tuesday. Initially, I thought of not going because I anticipated that two of my four former basketball friends will also be there and I didn’t want to encounter them anymore. Fortunately they were not present except for one. I’m a Christian Jew and it’s our belief not to be kind to those who are also not kind to us, following the doctrine of the prophet Moses. It’s “eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth” ‘ika nga as the old testament of the Good Book.

But I changed my mind and broke the doctrine and decided to join the presscon since it’s part of my job and also because I respect the guy who invited me, media colleague Ging Cardinoza, a respected writer of national daily PDI.

As I anticipated, I bumped into LNU’s head coach Angel Gumarang before the start of the presscon. He approached me and without me asking him, he detailed to me how they lost the Region 1 PRISAA basketball gold medal match held last October 29. He said their defeat in the hands of La Union College of Nursing and Sciences (LUCNAS) was principally because of an ineligible player, named Renbert A. Bayo, fielded by their opponent. Gumarang explained that the fellow who plays center, standing six-foot-three, scored at least 30 points during the gold medal match and was the dominant force of the L.U. team since the start of the four-day hostilities. Gumarang said the guy who graduated from the Dona Josefa E. Marcos High School in Cordon, Isabela in 2004 broke the rule because the PRISAA ruling says the cut-off year is 2005 and not 2004. Gumarang even sent his player Johnson Carlos to Cordon to confirm the information, carrying an official letter from Atty. Gonzalo T. Duque, Region 1 PRISAA president, and was supposed to get a copy of Bayo’s high school document as proof but he was turned down by the school’s principal. Carlos told me that they just let him read Bayo’s credentials and records that said he really graduated from that school in 2004 and moved to LUCNAS to pursue his college studies. He added that the principal told him that it’s a school-to-school policy or protocol that should be observed. Irked and annoyed by what happened, Gumarang immediately wrote an official letter of protest to the secretary-general of Region 1 PRISAA Phil Celi who, in turn, wrote a letter dated November 22, 2011 without delay to the president of PRISAA La Union Division-Chapter based at Lorna Colleges in San Fernando, La Union. Up to this date, no reply has been received, according to Gumarang.

I asked him why he’s making the complaint only now and not prior to the gold medal match. Gumarang said he tried and talked to the two top honchos of the games, Celi and Seato Gonimil, before the final competition started but they just shrugged off his comments.

“Sec-gen Celi was remiss in this particular case because this is his job,” said Gumarang. “I told them about my suspicions about Bayo, and suggested that they closely scrutinize his records prior to the games but they didn’t even listen to me and instead told my assistant coach Rod that I’m a habitual complainant and destroying the image of the games. That’s unjust and because I’m just exerting my right as the head coach of the team and trying to protect the reputation of LNU and Dagupan City,” said Gumarang. “My team is fair and if we lose at anytime, it should be fair and square.”

Gumarang also lamented the non-appearance of the Celi and Gonimil during the final game and that it was BARECOM chief referee Conde Padillo who awarded the medals. “It was the two and not me who are destroying the image of the games because obviously they’re not pro-active enough,” Gumarang added.

If the allegations are true, I’m very positive that the LNU-Dagupan team will wrest the title from La Union through technicality to represent Region 1 for the national games on April, 2012. But that’s possible only if money and palakasan system will not be a factor.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” HEBREWS 11: 6

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