Barako Bull player suspended, fined P500,000

MANILA (Updated 3:24 p.m.) -- Basketball player Don Allado was suspended for one conference by the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and ordered to pay P500,000 as fine for ranting on micro-blogging site Twitter against the league on Wednesday.

The penalty came despite Allado of Barako Bull apologizing and retracting his Twitter posts accusing the league of game fixing.

"I can accept losing to teams. But I can't accept losing because of referees," Allado tweeted on Wednesday. "I am bitter about losing. Not to Powerade, but to PBA. In my opinion, the league has little credibility left."

He added: "It's a disgrace to be in this league."

PBA commissioner Chito Salud said, however, that Allados’ comments were unexpected for a PBA veteran.

“It’s a shame. It’s irresponsible coming from a guy that has benefited for 13 years from the league that he now attacks,” said Salud.

Salud met with Allado Thursday noon, and the Barako Bull center/power forward apologized for his rants.

“It was not my intention to blame the whole league. I want to apologize to the whole league, the fans, the players... I hope the fans can forgive me for what happened… There is no game-fixing in the PBA, and there never was…,” he said.

Allado also apologized on Twitter, saying: “I would like to extend my sincerest apologies to Comm Salud & entire PBA for last night's tweets that's now a subject of controversy.”

“As a professional, I should've known better,” he added.

The league said P300,000 of the P500,000 fine Allado has been ordered to pay will go to the players' educational trust fund. The remaining P200,000 will be given to a charitable institution of his choice.

The league said the fine was “final.” Television and radio reports said it was the biggest amount meted for an individual player in the league’s history. (Sunnex)