SMC to ‘reevaluate’ PBA participation following Balkman’s banning

MANILA, Philippines – San Miguel Corp. announced today it is reevaluating its participation in the PBA following the Renaldo Balkman incident that somehow dragged the name and tainted the image of the giant food and beverage conglomerate.

“Our reputation is of utmost importance to us because we have worked hard to cultivate this good name through the decades. But it takes only one unfortunate incident like this to undo all our efforts,” said SMC in a statement.

“As such, given the possible long-term effect of this incident to the San Miguel organization's image, and in consideration of our need to preserve our good reputation, management has decided to re-evaluate the company’s continuing participation in the PBA,” the statement added.

SMC, which has three popular ball clubs Petron Blaze, Barangay Ginebra and San Mig Coffee under its PBA umbrella, issued the statement moments after PBA commissioner Chito Salud imposed a life-time ban on Petron import Renaldo Balkman for his Friday’s on-court outburst that shocked Filipino basketball fans.

San Miguel apologized to the fans for Balkman’s misconduct, stressing they themselves don’t condone his actions.

“The mandate of our basketball operations has always been to entertain basketball fans and foster camaraderie and a spirit of healthy competition. We pride ourselves in having great teams who serve as good role models to the youth and community,” SMC said.

“Unfortunately, the incident has been blown out of proportion and has damaged our good name. Already, news of the incident has spread throughout the country and overseas through traditional and online media,” SMC rued.

While deciding to reevaluate its PBA participation, SMC, however, promised to continue supporting Philippine sports.

“We believe sports is a pillar of Philippine society and we will continue to support it and Filipino athletes in general in meaningful ways in and out of the PBA,” SMC said.

SMC is a major PBA block with three teams with their own winning tradition.

Petron Blaze (San Miguel Beer) is the league’s winningest with 19 crowns, San Mig Coffee (Purefoods/BMeg) has nine and Barangay Ginebra eight.

The league’s current board chairman is Robert Non, representing Barangay Ginebra.

SMC also runs a team – San Miguel Beer – in the Asean Basketball League.