MANILA – The Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup has cracked the whip on Siquijor Mystics and ARQ Builders-Lapu-Lapu City Heroes following their controversial game on Wednesday that was deemed by many as “game-fixing.”
The league expelled the Mystics team on Thursday as announced by the cup’s chief operating officer, Rocky Chan. With the expulsion, all of the team’s games will be removed from the standings. The team was fined 1,000,000.
The Mystics’ team is composed of its head coach Joel Palpal and its coaching staff. Its players are: Joshua Alcober, Ryan Buenafe, Vincent Tangcay, Jan Penaflor, Gene Bellaza, Michael Calomot, Frederick Rodriguez, Jopet Quiro, Isagani Gooc, Miguel Castellano, Juan Aspiras, Peter Buenafe, and Michael Sereno.
On the other hand, Lapu-Lapu’s coaching staff and players did not escape the league’s wrath as Rendell Senining was sanctioned for his left and right-handed free throw attempts. He was slapped with a one-season suspension aside from the P15,000 fine.
Lapu-Lapu’s Hercules Tangkay, Reed Juntilla, Monbert Arong, Dawn Ochea, and Ferdinand Lusdoc, along with head coach Francis Auquico, were also banned for the rest of the first round. The players were fined P15,000 each while Auquico was sanctioned with P30,000. The rest of the coaching staff were also penalized with P20,000 each.
“This is a clear statement of the Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup. Any deliberate actions by any player and coach is not tolerated in this league,” said Chan. “If ginagawa nyo po ito sa ibang liga, wag nyong gawin dito sa VisMin Super Cup.”
The league will also release a memo that warns the five remaining Visayas teams and 10 squads in the Mindanao leg, that whoever team will commit the same act that Siquijor did will be expelled and fined 1,000,000.
“Itinayo namin ang liga na ito to provide a livelihood to players, coaches, utilities, and other people behind. Sana wag nating sirain because of the sacrifice that we’ve made is not that easy,” said Chan. “Wag natin babuyin ang basketball na pinakamamahal ng Pinoy.”/PN
