25 November 2015

Suspend Pa More

Lipa and Narvasa
When Spin.ph writer Snow Badua criticized Barangay Ginebra manager Alfrancis Chua for his alleged exra-marital affair with Abby Poblador, he was suspended PBA activities and barred from interviewing PBA staff, players and officers. The PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa deemed his comments detrimental to the league and to a PBA official.

However, when commissioner Narvasa criticize and downplayed the basketball skills of Mahindra Enforcer’s playing coach Manny Pacquiao, no action was taken even if many found it "detrimental to the integrity of a PBA team."

In fact, the inability of the PBA management to take action against one of their own was exacerbated by the commissioner’s own power-play when he suspended a person who angrily reacted to his comments before the PBA games in Dubai in early November and does not want to follow his condescending demand.

Touching on Pacquiao's foray into the PBA, Narvasa said, "Marketing-wise there's no question, it’s brilliant, whoever thought of that is brilliant, he draws crowds and it's tremendous, but in terms of basketball excellence, you know, he’s not really a basketball player, he’s a boxer."

"That’s something very shocking to come from a commissioner. One, (Pacquiao's appointment as Mahindra playing-coach) is a corporate decision and I am sure that there are valid reasons for them to get Manny Pacquiao," said Mahindra team consultant Joe Lipa, shaking his head.

For his frank reaction, the former national coach was given a letter dated 13 November ordering him to appear before Narvasa. A second letter was sent to Lipa on 17 November, where Narvasa reminded him that a 'non-waivable summon' requires mandatory appearance and failure to do so is 'a serious affront on the authority of the commissioner.'

The PBA commissioner is definitely flexing his muscles here, but it appears he is not only one who can control their own destiny after Lipa ignored his orders.

"I was offended by his first letter. Masyadong strongly worded. It appears that he is demanding me to come to his office ... there are better ways to draft a summon," said Lipa in an article of Spin.ph.

Because of his fighting stance on the issue, Lipa was suspended just like Badua. For how long? Mobody really knows. What is certain though is that this is not the last time that PBA fans will see somebody standing up against Narvasa, who has yet to address the more important issues plaguing the league such as presence of farm teams, lopsided trades in favor of the mother teams, sloppy officiating and absence of strict guidelines regarding salary and team caps.

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