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By Eddie G. Alinea, Contributor
WHEN Purefoods and Sta. Lucia Realty play on
Sunday, both will be a man short each—prolific scorer James Yap
for the Giants and Joseph Yeo for the Realtors.
The Giants seemed at the losing end though in
the offshoots of penalties meted out by commissioner Sonny Barrios
on the flagrant foul each committed by the duo—Yap in Game 3 on a
flagrant foul against Yeo himself and the latter in Game 4 against
Noy Castillo.
Both Yap and Yeo are able defenders as well as
scorers, but the Giants scoring machine has been averaging in the
vicinity of 26 points a game, contribution coach Ryan Gregorio and
his charges will surely be missing in today’s all-important
meeting the winner of which gains a tremendous 3-2 edge in the
series reduced to a mere best-of-three affair.
So much so that no one should take it against
Gregorio when he surmised that Yap should not have merited being
slapped with a suspension especially because the referees who worked
on that match thought the Purefoods forward only committed flagrant
foul 1, which under the rules, Yeo should only be given a pair of
free throws plus Sta. Lucia possession.
Barrios, in an interview with the Manila Times,
defended his decision to upgrade the penalty as within his power on
the strength of a ruling imposed by the late commissioner Mariano
Yenko in 1986 that if the penalty is deficient the commissioner can
elevate it to one rank stiffer.
“We reviewed the tape over and over again and,
indeed, the foul fell under flagrant 2 category and should be
penalized with at least a game suspension and a fine of P20,000,
which Yap gets,” Barrios explained.
The PBA commissioner belied rumors circulating
around that he elevated the penalty after meeting with Sta. Lucia
owner Exequiel Robles and team manager Buddy Encarnado although
admitting that he had lunch with the two officials a day after the
game.
“That lunch meeting was part of a listening
ear and positive communications policy I imposed on myself upon
assuming permanent commissionership at the start of the
conference,” he reasoned out. “When I started practicing that
self-imposed policy on myself, I talked to all team owners with the
exception of Mr. Robles who could not fiend time for the purpose.”
“So when Mr. Robles called saying he is
already available, I consented meeting him in a neutral public place
at the coffee shop of the Edsa Shangrila. He was with Buddy [Encarnado]
and I was with Willie [Marcial, the league media relations man].
“The meeting was not tainted with impropriety.
In fact, we were joined by some of his business associates and they
talked about, what else but business,” Barrios attested.
“So, kung may mga nag-i-isip man ng masama, I
can guarantee them na walang bahid na masama ang aming usapan and
everything was above board,” he assured.
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