OFFICIALS who handled the game between Jose Rizal University and St. Benilde have all been placed under preventive suspension by the league in the fallout of the John Amores rampage.
Herc Callanta of Lyceum, the chairman of an adhoc investigation committee, bared that referees Anthony Sulit, Dennis Escaros, and Antonio Baguion Jr. have all been banned from calling any games since the incident.
[READ: John Amores dropped from JRU squad]
"They are under preventive suspension at the moment. Automatic yan if there's an unfortunate incident that takes place, there's an automatic preventive suspension," he said on Wednesday.
"Until they're cleared, they're not allowed to officiate."
The league has asked all three officials to submit their testimonies first to basketball commissioner Tonichi Pujante and then to the NCAA Management Committee (Mancom) to explain their side on the matter.
Spin.ph sources bared that one of the officials was bumped by Amores on his way back to the bench and responded with expletives which further aggravated the already tense situation even before the Heavy Bombers forward charged at the Blazers bench last week.
Security has also been bolstered with more bouncers and officers from the San Juan Police Station enlisted to enforce order in the games.
"We added more bouncers to man the floor and the stands, not to mention having apat na pulis. Suffice it to say, we've already augmented and beefed up the security," the official said.
Callanta, though, asked for patience as the NCAA continues to investigate the matter until they can come up with their final verdict.
"I don't want to preempt the results of the investigation cause we're still going to go through all the footages from different angles as well as accounts from both sides, JRU and St. Benilde," he said.
"As far as the players are concerned, yun na yun. Pero yung peripherals, yung security, referees and officiating, those are still forthcoming."
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