BaliPure hits out at piracy of its player in middle of PVL season

MANILA, Philippines – With the supposed piracy case of University of Santo Tomas Growling Tiger Rhenz Abando still fresh in everyone’s mind, a similar incident was pulled off just the other day in the Premier Volleyball League.

BaliPure team manager and former Philippine Basketball Association player Gil Cortez decried the piracy of one of its players by a rival league team in the middle of the season. 

According to Cortez, overtures were made by this other squad to one of BaliPure’s players. The player admitted to signing a contract even before the current PVL Open Conference was done resulting in her benching in the Purest Water Defenders’ match last Sunday, October 20, that resulted in a three-set loss to Petro Gazz. 

“It is disappointing,” lamented Cortez. “This shows a lack of respect.”

“This isn’t the first time our team has experienced something like this,” added Cortez who was the PBA’s first ever recipient of the Rookie of the Year Award. “During our run to the Reinforced Championship several years ago, one of our players, Risa Sato, was being lured away by the assistant of another team. We complained about this to the league, but they did not do anything. And now this has happened again.”

“We have no problems if other teams are trying to recruit our players. There is a process to this. They must respect it or else naglolokohan lang tayo rito. We want the league to act on this because it is not only for our protection, but also every other team in the league.”

This open conference, the BaliPure Purest Water Defenders finished in eighth spot in a field of nine and a 4-12 record.

In a wholly different topic, Cortez also bared plans to organize a charity volleyball match featuring past and present players of BaliPure for a benefit for former coach Roger Gorayeb who led them to the 2017 PVL Reinforced championship. Gorayeb is experiencing health issues at the moment.