But Taulava's fans don't have the reason to rejoice yet. He’s yet to be cleared by the Department of Justice, thus, still barred from getting back into action in the PBA.
Mobiline team manager Frankie Lim said Taulava flew into town Friday evening to marry his model girlfriend Ana Corveau and give name to their daughter who was born early this year.
The 6-foot-10 behemoth, who’s claiming himself to be a Fil-Tongan, arrived from Los Angeles at 9 p.m. Friday and immediately proceeded to a dinner party with his former Mobiline teammates at the Pacific Plaza. Among those who welcomed Taulava was Mobiline import Jerod Ward, a rival player in the recent ABA tourney.
Early yesterday, Taulava, now sporting a black dreadlock top, drove to Bulacan, eager to see his girlfriend Ana and daughter Asiana.
With a petition from his girlfriend, Mobiline lawyers worked to get the ban for his entry in the country temporarily lifted.
According to Lim, Mobiline lawyers will soon work for the reopening of his case with the player arriving apparently with new pieces of evidence at hand.
Meanwhile, Pop Cola scored a second straight win in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup by drubbing Tanduay yesterday at the Ormoc Dome in Ormoc, Leyte.
"We’ll not get to know if his papers could clear him if we’ll not try presenting it to the DOJ," said Lim.
The Bureau of Immigration, then under commissioner Rufus Rodriguez, issued a deportation order to Taulava on May last year on the basis of suspicion that he isn’t of Filipino stock. BI never established that Taulava’s papers were faked but ruled the player failed to submit convincing evidence to prove his Filipino roots.
Taulava persistently tried to persuade Rodriguez that he’s no impostor as he even produced his Los Angeles-based mother – Pauline Mateaki – for a face-to-face cross-examination to no avail.
The Panthers crushed the boards and outmanuevered the Rhum Masters on both ends of the court as they made it two in a row after losing their first two games in the mid-season tournament.
Jason Sasser fashioned out another splendid performance with 37 points and 19 rebounds and his local teammates once again provided the needed support as they dealt the Rhum Masters their third loss in four starts.
William Antonio fired 21 points, Johnny Abarrientos rifled in 15, Estong Ballesteros added 12 while Rudy Hatfield scored only five points but pulled down 13 rebounds.
The whole Pop Cola team grabbed a season-high 62 rebounds to Tanduay’s 51. The Panthers also enjoyed a much better three-point shooting, nailing eight of 18 attempts from the arc to the Rhum Masters’ 1-of-11 showing from the same area.
The Rhum Masters had a woeful showing and this was best typified by Kevin Freeman who struggled for only 15 points.
The Panthers jumped the gun on the Rhum Masters and hang tough even as their rivals put some pressure on a full-court pressing defense in the third quarter.
Down by 14, 36-50, at halftime, the Rhum Masters narrowed the gap to 50-60 by forcing a number of Pop Cola turnovers on their defense.
But the Panthers never lost their composure, calling on Sasser, Antonio and Johnny Abarrientos as they made another key runs to eventually foil Tanduay’s bid.
Meanwhile, Red Bull seeks to sustain the momentum of its back-to-back wins over Mobiline and Ginebra while San Miguel hopes to bounce back from a sorry loss to Alaska the last time out as they dispute solo second place at the resumption of play at the Araneta Coliseum today.
The Thunder and the Beermen mix it up at 4:15 p.m. before the Mobiline Phone Pals and the Shell Turbochargers square off at 6:30.
The Thunder are on a roll but coach Yeng Guiao expects a rough sailing versus the Beermen whom he feels will surely come out strong in a bid to avoid a second straight loss.
"They (the Beermen) rarely lose two games in a row. And since we beat their sister team Ginebra badly (Friday night), siguradong pipilitin nila kaming bawian," said Guiao.