PBA orders all-out probe

The Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner's Office yesterday placed executive secretary Erlinda Celeste Vergara on preventive suspension following her alleged involvement in the citizenship case of Tanduay's Sonny Alvarado.

"We, more than anyone, would want to get to the bottom of all this. I've placed Ms. Vergara on preventive suspension and asked her to explain whatever involvement she may have had in this case," said PBA commissioner Jun Bernardino.

The Bureau of Immigration is set to reopen the case of Alvarado Wednesday. The BI task force is expected to review two questionable birth certificates, one of which it found to have been under Vergara's name, and the other under one Danilo Ildefonso.

The presence of two certificates in the files of the BI cast doubts on the authenticity of the records of birth of Alvarado's mother Ana Marie dela Cruz, who presented herself as a Filipino citizen and natural mother of the Tanduay player.

The BI Task Force questioned the validity of the documents, since it would mean Alvarado had two mothers, one of them a man. BI commissioner Rufus Rodriguez, who gave Alvarado clearance to play in the PBA before the start of the season, ordered a reopening of the case based on the new evidence.

This development came on the heels of the BI decision deporting Mobiline's Asi Taulava for his failure to substantiate his claim to Filipino citizenship.

"I just hope that all the things that the BI will do will be done at the soonest possible time so that PBA players will do what they do best -- play for our fans," said Bernardino. -