Barbers shop talk, Osmeña makes sense

The Senate Committee on Youth and Sports is hellbent on weeding out the fake Filipino-Americans playing in the PBA. Chairman Sen. Robert Barbers has actually sent his own people all over the country to gather evidence and testimony to ascertain the true identity of some of the suspects. But that is only part of the story.

"We are not approaching the final stage of this investigation," the renowned police officer adds. "We are very happy with the results. And we will be coming up with the final hearing in a few weeks’ time so that we can make our recommendation."

Barbers told The Star that there are two or three players he is watching keenly, whose personal histories are coming to light, who may not be all that they claim to be. He explains that there are several possible Fil-fakes who have come through Samar, and his investigators are just now starting to return to Manila to give their reports. However, he declined to divulge the names of the players in question at this stage of the investigation. At the end of the day, they will make their recommendation, and possibly amend laws involving tightening up on the hiring of these players.

Senator John Osmeña makes a further clarification.

"We are not a prosecutorial body. We don’t file cases, and we don’t find people guilty," says the senator from Cebu. "As legislators, we are looking for ways to tighten up the process."

Osmeña revealed that one player interviewed could not even tell where his allegedly Filipino mother was from, referring the senator to his lawyer, instead. Osmeña, a long-time basketball fan, in turn relates the matter to bigger national issues.

"It is very, very ironic, we are passing laws giving the right to vote to people who have acquired permanent residence abroad. We are passing a law granting dual citizenship which means you can be a Filipino and an American at the same time, elaborates Osmena. "So I think it’s a little unfair if we give them political rights but don’t allow them to play basketball."

The three senators involved in the committee (Barbers, Osmeña and Sen. Robert Jaworski) found it amusing and paradoxical that each of them also comes from mixed parentage. Barbers is descended from the Barbieri clan of Italy, Osmeña’s mother is American, and Jaworski is a Polish-American name.

The investigation also unearthed a surprisingly relaxed procedure at the Department of Labor regarding issuance of Alien Employment Permits to foreign coaches in the Philippines. Unfortunately, there are no other professions which could serve as a blueprint for legislation in this case.

"The problem here," Osmena explains, "is that there is no one who would graduate from an American medical school who could make about a million pesos a month. There is no one who could graduate in any profession anywhere in the world who could make the amount of money a basketball player could make in this country. If he is a good player, there is no one we could compare him to."

In our next piece, we will tackle the issue of foreign coaches in basketball and other sports.

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Don’t miss this week’s episode of The Basketball Show (4:00 p.m. over IBC-13), which will feature the PBA’s pre-season games, "Pormang PBA" fashion show, Coca-Cola’s Jeff Cariaso, UE’s Ollan Omiping, forgotten forward Bong Hawkins, and primers for this week’s PBA games. The Basketball Show is sponsored by Adidas, Champi, and Red Horse Extra Strong Beer.