Behind closed doors

It wasn’t easy hammering out the joint communiqué signed by officials of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) and Pilipinas Basketball (PB) in Tokyo last Monday.

The day before, the opposing parties conferred in the presence of top Federation Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) leaders in a private room at the Prince Park Tower Hotel and the three-hour discussion went nowhere.

The verdict was a stalemate at the end of the first meeting and FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann gave the Filipino delegates an ultimatum of one day to settle their differences.

The Sunday meeting was heated, to say the least. In his discourse, POC legal counsel Ding Tanjuatco said PB was represented by "genuine" stakeholders. Lhuillier coach Raul (Yayoy) Alcoseba of Cebu reacted sharply and blurted out, "are you saying we are fake?’’ Alcoseba, Fritz Gaston, BAP chairman Michel Lhuillier, BAP secretary-general Graham Lim and BAP president Joey Lina were on the side opposed to PB which is supported by the POC.

And while Tanjuatco spoke, Lim seemed to be making faces in his seat. Tanjuatco noticed it and dared Lim to speak out if he had something to say. Baumann quickly mediated and told Lim to keep quiet. But Lim innocently said all he wanted to do was go to the rest room.

Lim later spoke and questioned the large representation the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) was proposed to take in the merged organization. Baumann, however, came to the PBA’s rescue and said, "Why not?" No doubt, Baumann likened the PBA’s situation to the US model where the National Basketball Association has the largest representation in the American governing body because of its stature.

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After the joint communiqué was submitted to FIBA, Lina made an impassioned appeal for the country’s suspension to be immediately lifted as a gift to millions of basketball-loving Filipinos.

Former FIBA secretary-general Borislav Stankovic, who still wields tremendous influence in the organization’s affairs, had proposed the conditional lifting of the suspension or until the provisions of the joint communiqué are accomplished on or before Sept. 30.

Baumann appeared to relent and said he was agreeable to lift the suspension first then restore the suspension if the provisions are not met.

But Stankovic put his foot down, telling Baumann to hold his horses and slow down. Stankovic said the proper thing to do is to set the conditional lifting because if not, FIBA would come out looking like a yo-yo in the event of a default.

FIBA-Asia secretary-general Dato Yeoh Choo Hock of Malaysia, a known Lim ally, almost begged for the Philippines to resolve the internal dispute for the sake of Southeast Asia.

"The Philippines is Southeast Asian when it comes to basketball," said Dato Yeoh. "I have no leverage in our region if the Philippines is not a contender in Southeast Asia."

During the initial three-hour discussion, the Filipinos were vociferously at odds. A witness said there was a lot of shouting and insulting words were hurled across the table.

But when the heat died down, the Filipino delegates buckled down to work and were determined to end the impasse on their own, without help from FIBA.

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For about eight hours last Monday, the group figured out a way to work together and came up with the joint communiqué in the true spirit of statesmanship.

"It was a difficult process," said a witness. "This was not a lip-service type of agreement. Both sides decided to collapse their organizations. Give credit to the BAP for that because of its long history and tradition. There is no ambiguity in the joint communiqué. In the end, everyone realized this was the last ticket, the last hope for Philippine basketball. A solution was drawn up to a domestic problem and everyone should take pride in this accomplishment because it proved despite sharp differences of opinion, Filipinos can agree for the sake of our country."

The witness said it’s not fair for detractors to paint a grim picture of the outcome of the Tokyo meetings.

"Instead of taking pride in what was accomplished, some quarters are carping about our failure to get an immediate lifting of the suspension and the fact that the PBA won’t form the national team for the Asian Games after all," said the witness. "Still, the agreement was the best result we could get and the conditional lifting is understandable. Now, it’s up to us to get our act together."