Pardo: Game-fixing charge hurting PBA
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Newly appointed Philippine Basketball Association Ethics Committee chairman Rene Pardo of Purefoods has expressed concern over the report that the National Labor Relations Commission had ordered the pro league to reinstate veteran referees Ogie Bernate and Romeo Guevara, who were allegedly dismissed for refusing to cooperate in game-fixing.
NLRC labor Arbiter Teresita Castillon-Lora ordered PBA Commissioner Noli Eala and officials supervisor Perry Martinez to reinstate Bernate and Guevara and pay them P1,152,250 in back wages and moral damages stating that they were illegally dismissed for exposing game-fixing in the PBA.
Pardo said he expects the ruling “to be appealed through the normal channels” but admitted that “this is a blow to the PBA.”
He also indicated the pro league may “try to talk to these two guys (Bernate and Guevara) and maybe try to settle it amicably.”
The two accused former referees’ supervisor Ernesto de Leon of asking them to fix a crucial game between Sta. Lucia and Alaska.
De Leon, who was repeatedly voted Referee of the Year by the PBA Press Corps resigned, claiming he was tired and not in the best of health to officiate, although Standard Today was aware that commissioner Eala and Martinez had pressured him to resign because of concerns over the game-fixing charges and the fact that he was ineffective and had caused dissension among the referees.
Bernate and Guevara continued to officiate even after De Leon had resigned. However, their contracts were not renewed by Eala after evaluation of their performance, which the PBA believes is a management prerogative.
The latest setback comes in the wake of the controversy over Shell’s sale of its star players Tony de la Cruz and Rich Alvarez to favored Alaska, whose deputy representative to the PBA board of governors Joaqui Trillo had earlier strongly objected to a plan to disallow Shell to trade or sell its players despite evidence that they were planning to quit the league.
Alaska eventually signed up the two star players to the chagrin of the other teams, which were expecting a dispersal draft which Red Bull, San Miguel and Talk N Text had described as “the fairest way.”
Standard Today learned that one of the reasons Shell traded or sold its players to Alaska was because team owner Fred Uytengsu was a good friend of Romy de Guzman, one of the top executives of Shell.
WA MU KASABOT ANI DODONG?
Originally Posted by icon_king
basaha ang title sa artilce. dili na evidence.? naunse naman ka....
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