MANILA – The Blackwater Elite owner has announced the ball club is up for sale after he was called out for holding a team practice sans the Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) go signal.
Dioceldo Sy told various media outfits on Wednesday evening he plans to sell the franchise for a minimum of P150 million.
“I’m done with the PBA. I’m open to talk to interested buyers,” Sy said. “I feel that I’m being bullied because I’m requesting for a 50 percent salary cut but nobody listened. With that and this quarantine violation, I lost my heart for the league.”
The Blackwater issue originated when Sy himself in a television interview earlier this week said the team held a workout last Saturday. Eight players split in clusters of four did conditioning and shootaround sessions.
Games and Amusements Board (GAB) chairman Baham Mitra said the Elite could face sanctions as the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has yet to release the guidelines on training resumption.
“Bigla na akong tinitira na may violations na ko sa IATF at sa GAB. Si Mitra nakisawsaw. Mayroon ba kayong ebidensya na may violation ako,” Said Sy in response.
P100-K FINE
PBA commissioner Willie Marcial, on the other hand, slapped the Elite with a hefty P100,000 fine and also tasked the team’s players and coaching staff to undergo swab testing and a seven-day self-quarantine.
The league will also launch a probe on the “serious allegation” made by Sy, apparently when the Blackwater owner said that he is being “bullied” for suggesting the salary deduction on players, Marcial added.
In an interview with Spin.ph on Thursday, meanwhile, Marcial said that Sy should formalize his plan to sell Blackwater if the latter is serious about it. The former, however, said it will not be easy during this time of pandemic.
“Hindi ko pa siya nakausap tungkol diyan. Pero kung may plano siyang ganun, he has to make it formal by putting it in a letter addressed to the PBA board,” said Marcial. “Siyempre tayo gusto pa rin natin na mag-stay sila sa liga.”
“It’s a big business decision in the midst of a major pandemic. The question is, would there be a buyer who’s willing to take the risk especially since there are no PBA games at the moment,” he added.
The PBA fined Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings’ Japeth Aguilar and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters’ Adrian Wong recently for playing a scrimmage ahead the scheduled return of teams to practice./PN
