Shamnesty for Fil-Shams

The Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) is clamping down on Fil-Ams and starting this season, new hires of the Fil-foreign variety are being required Department of Justice (DOJ) clearance to enter the four-year-old pro league.

That’s why highly-touted Fil-Am guard Robert Johnson of Bellevue University, Nebraska, still isn’t sure of playing for Pangasinan coach Lawrence Chongson. The word is Johnson’s been offered a P150,000 monthly salary but the contract is contingent on his DOJ clearance.

I really can’t understand why the DOJ takes so long to clear a Fil-Am applicant, especially if he’s undisputedly legitimate. I realize the DOJ has more important things to attend to but it shouldn’t take months to review a Fil-Am’s application. Johnson, for instance, applied for his DOJ clearance last year. He missed the deadline for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) draft and now, he’s chasing another deadline to play in the MBA.

There’s no doubt that Johnson’s a legitimate Fil-Am. His mother Erlinda Sales was born in Catbalogan, Samar. She has documents to prove her roots. His father Ronnie is a retired US Air Force officer. His parents met and married at Clark Air Base in Angeles City. Johnson’s mother was still a Filipino citizen when he was born in San Diego in 1979, according to his Chicago-based agent Rolando Hison.

Is it true that some agents pay through the nose to "fix" a Fil-Am’s DOJ clearance? Sort of a "facilitation fee." Nobody’s talking, of course. But there’s smoke in the air. And you know the saying – where there’s smoke, there’s fire. A source said there are Bureau of Immigration (BI) "fixers," too. A Fil-Am’s application for DOJ clearance must be endorsed by the BI so that adds another hurdle in the obstacle course.

Remember that it took Eric Menk about a year to be cleared by the DOJ despite his Filipina mother, who lives in Michigan, flying in and out of the country as a balikbayan. And Asi Taulava was initially deported before he was cleared, reportedly for "humanitarian" reasons.

MBA commissioner Chito Loyzaga says a team is limited to hire two Fil-Ams. Players who suited up as Fil-Ams in previous seasons are included in the limit but will be spared from the new requirement of obtaining DOJ clearance. The amnesty covers only MBA veterans, meaning unconfirmed PBA Fil-Ams like Sonny Alvarado and Rob Parker don’t fall into this category.

So the amnesty will allow Chris Clay and Jeffrey Flowers to continue playing without DOJ clearance. Their only ticket is a work permit from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Batangas Blades star Alex Compton, who was born here to American Peace Corps parents, is the only exception to the rule. He isn’t a Fil-Am because he’s a full-blooded American and therefore, isn’t eligible for a DOJ clearance but since he was born here, the MBA has allowed him to play.

Another alleged MBA Fil-Am, Matt Mitchell, will be allowed to play if he wants to. He disappeared last year in the wake of the public outcry against Fil-Shams. Cebu coach Francis Rodriguez is leaving a slot open in the Gems roster for Mitchell in case the burly 6-7 forward decides to come back.

Curiously, Clay and Flowers had the audacity to try out for the national team without a DOJ clearance. When PBA commissioner Jun Bernardino offered to pay for their trip back to the US so they could gather documents to prove their Filipino lineage, Clay and Flowers were dumbstruck. Did they finally realize the masquerade had come to an end?

Clay was outstanding during the early national team tryouts. He would’ve been a shoo-in for the squad. Clay is so good that FedEx considered hiring him as an import in the PBA Samsung Governors Cup. But if he made it to the national squad, how do you think the legitimate Filipinos would feel yielding a spot to an unconfirmed Fil-Am?

A Fil-Am national team aspirant, who has DOJ clearance, confided to The STAR that he once asked Clay about his Filipino roots. Clay said something about his Filipino father abandoning him when he was born and he never knew him. Then, Clay quickly changed the subject. A likely story.

Clay is from Amarillo, Texas. He was MVP for York Junior College in Nebraska in 1991-92 and played for the University of Texas-Pan American, an NCAA Division I contender. In 1992-93, he averaged 12.7 points and 2.9 rebounds for the Broncs varsity under coach Mark Adams, a former Golden Gloves boxer. He shot 47 percent from the floor and 78.9 percent from the stripe. Clay hit 27 points in the varsity’s final season game against South Alabama. A teammate was six-foot guard Greg Guy who averaged 29.3 points to lead the NCAA in scoring that year. Guy saw action in three games as a Pepsi import in the PBA in 1995.

Clay played a single game in 1993-94 before under-going back surgery and was reactivated the next season where he averaged 18.5 points and 3.1 rebounds for Texas-Pan American. He shot 39.7 percent from three-point range and topped the Sun Belt Conference in free throw shooting with an 82 percent clip. Clay’s senior season, however, was controversial as the varsity was accused of at least six rules violations by the NCAA Infractions Committee. The NCAA alleged that the varsity aided recruits in correspondence courses, provided special medical treatment, car transportation and lodging for prospective recruits, arranged for special use of facilities for pickup games by players, conducted illegal off-campus basketball camps, and disregarded NCAA and university instructions on the rules of investigation conduct. It’s not certain if Clay was involved in the investigation which led to Adams’ resignation.

Flowers suited up for Lewis and Clark College, an obscure National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) basketball contender in Portland. How Flowers is a Fil-Am remains a mystery.