Tuesday, April 01, 2008 Pangilinan lashes back at BAP's Villafuerte
THE national basketball community is once more shaken by heated exchanges of words from the country’s basketball leaders.
Yesterday, BAP-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manny Pangilinan finally broke his silence and answered the accusations hurled at him by BAP chairman Luis Villafuerte in a letter sent to Pangilinan and distributed to the media.
Aside from the reply, Fiba, the international governing body for basketball, stepped into the fracas to throw in its support to BAP-SBP.
“I find your letter most offensive, biased and misguided with disinformation,” said Pangilinan in a reply to Villafuerte’s letter, explaining in full three points in Villafuerte’s letter that had attacked Pangilinan’s leadership.
“I take very strong exception to the points in your letter especially the suggestion of ‘gross bad faith’ to my leadership and misdemeanor in handling of certain SBP funds,” Pangilinan said.
Pangilinan lashed back at Villafuerte in his allegation that Pangilinan formed a new corporation as the beneficiary of the funding assitance of huge corporate backer Tao Corporation and Nokia.
“I resent your insinuation that the funds are diverted for a purpose other than the National Basketball Youth Development. I have been hugely out of pocket financially personally in support of SBP and its activities since its inception and I will never tolerate a misdemeanor of this kind. And I am sure, neither Tao Corp. nor Nokia will allow this,” Pangilinan said.
Tao Corp and Nokia threw in P80 million to help out the BAP-SBP’s nationwide project to develop a young pool of talented basketball players. The disbursement of the funds are done on a monthly basis.
Pangilinan added that to form a corporation would need a proposal and approval from the BAP-SBP board and there has been none of these. To assure that funds go to the right projects, Tao Corp and Nokia also require that all funds disbursed are to have dual signatories—one from them and one from BAP-SBP.
Unfounded
BAP-SBP secretary general Patrick Gregorio saw the insinuations unfounded. “I think it is ridiculous to charge a well-endowed businessman of corruption,” Gregorio told Sun.Star.
The first point Pangilinan discussed was how he allegedly refused to recognize Villafuerte as the “duly elected Chairman of BAP-SBP.”
Pangilinan said that it was already explained to Villafuerte that his election to the Board can only be made effective only upon a vacancy created, which as of the moment, there is not.
“This vacancy can be effected under the BAP-SBP by-laws by either: one of the BAP nominee trustees retiring or resigning; or one of such BAP trustees removed by two-thirds vote of the members pf BAP-SBP in a special membership meeting called for this purpose.
Pangilinan said that the chairmanship of Villafuerte has been raised a number of times with the BAP trustees but none of them has agreed to resign or retire to give way to Villafuerte.
“I should not take blame for failing to find a solution that is not within me, but solely with BAP... A president can not elect on his own a chairman even if he believes the latter to be competent. You (Villafuerte) know full well that such powers belong to the Board and the members of the corporation.”
Pangilinan also answered Villafuerte’s claim of the former’s “Continous refusal to recognize the new nominees of BAP to the BAP-SBP Board of Trustees the same way about Villafuerte’s chairmanship.
To add insult to injury, Villafuerte got another bashing from Fiba. Villafuerte also furnished a copy of his letter to the international basketball body.
“For your information, we support BAP-SBP and its leadership as our duly recognized national federation and elected officers and we will deal with BAP and Mr. (Graham) Lim’s attitude at our next CB meeting,” said Patrick Baumann, Fiba’s secretary general, in an e-mail to Gregorio that was forward to Sun.Star. (MCB)
