CHICAGO - Minus all the facts, with only one side - the PBA - spewing vague, sporadic details, I used to tip-toe around the Calvin Abueva suspension like a cat burglar in a pre-dawn heist.
But after hearing Abueva plead his case during a 17-minute, 39-second interview at Power and Play with Kom Noli last Saturday, I have enough ammo to tackle this travesty more responsibly.
In the criminal justice system, even the most hardened offenders are granted parole or provisional liberty when some time is already served and if genuine contrition is shown.
Calvin Abueva had sinned. There is no disputing that.
However, he owned up to his mistakes, accepted his fate, and repented for his bad actions through extended community service. He has also, at the behest of the PBA, taken more drug and psycho tests than an E.R. patient.
Fourteen agonizing months later, he remains in the prison of uncertainty. Unemployed. Not drawing any game checks. And relying mostly on a middling restaurant business to feed his wife and five children.
What's happening to Abueva is unjust and unfair. It's cruel and unusual punishment.
Short of walking on his knees from his Dampa ni The Beast in San Juan to the Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Calvin has done everything he was told.
What else can this poor man do to merit the tender mercy of the PBA?
And was I so wrong to believe that Willie Marcial, who started from the bottom to reach the top, is a pro-player commissioner and a gentle, caressing soul?
Or, is there a higher power calling the shots and whispering orders unto Marcial's gullible, beholden ears?
The harshest penalty ever meted out by the NBA was 68 games and it spanned no more than 11 months. But in that 2004 incident, Ron Artest punched a couple of fans and incited an arena brawl.
Abueva is getting 14 months and counting for clotheslining Terence Jones. It's a treacherous, cowardly act but not as egregious as Arwind Santos' monkey taunt on an import that triggered an international scandal.
I get it, Abueva's past indiscretions were factored in while weighing his penalties. But what's up with these add-on requirements during the suspension?
Abueva the employee versus PBA the corporate giant is a one-sided fight, like David versus Goliath and David doesn't have a slingshot.
So what would it take to prevent bloodbaths like this from ever happening again?
A PLAYERS' UNION.
Companies hate unions because they make noise and press demands. But unions are necessary when companies manifest oppressive and tyrannical tendencies.
Abueva's case is a stirring reminder why PBA players need to consolidate themselves into one united workforce that will wield the voice and influence to safeguard its ranks from wanton abuse.
The NBA has had a players' union since 1954. And that is why players in that best league in the world are paid handsomely through basketball-related income sharing while their rights and interests are fiercely protected.
If Abueva cannot marshal the resources and manpower needed to organize a union, I suggest another option.
In a May 2016 piece for SPIN.ph, writer Rhoel V. Fernandez wrote that Abueva was among the several PBA players who openly, enthusiastically supported the candidacy of the now incumbent Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte.
I heard Digong likes to champion the cause of the weak and disadvantaged.
And his man Friday, Senator Bong Go, also happens to be a rabid basketball fan.
Make that call, Calvin. It won't make you a lesser beast to ask for help to regain the livelihood you need to raise your family.
I hope the lines to connect with these powerful men are open so that an assist can be rendered to an aggrieved, almost broken star who once served his country as a member of the national team.
Abueva is 32 years old. A year and two months of his prime have already been stolen from him.
That's 425 days too long. And it needs to end now, not later.
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