CHICAGO - In sad, sullen surrender, PBA commissioner Willie Marcial gave up the fight to collar the culprit who insulted his league by screaming on a live telecast that a referee was rigging a semifinals game.
Embedded in the Philippine Cup bubble since early March, SPIN.ph editor Gerry Ramos wrote that "Marcial admitted the league can't prosecute anyone since there was no video evidence or witness testimony."
Kume Marcial just served us a lame sandwich. Sorry, I pass. Can't stomach it.
If our justice system followed this stupid line of thinking our jails will be empty of murderers, arsonists, rapists and corrupt politicians.
Apparently, Kume Marcial expected that the brazen heckler would just confess the sin of his verbal tirade like it was Saturday afternoon at Santo Domingo Church.
Well, hope is not a strategy, sir.
You must put forth the hard work and honest effort to ferret out the truth because every offender of crimes big and small are allergic to admitting wrongdoing.
My good friend Abac Cordero of The Philippine Star enlightened me that each team is allowed a maximum of only 25 people inside the bubble to include players, coaches, therapists, nutritionists. utility workers and a doctor.
Unless each and every member of the Meralco contingent is deaf-mute, finding the heckler is not akin to looking for a needle in a haystack. Even the bumbling, hilariously inept Inspector Clouseau of The Pink Panther can solve this mystery.
SHAKE THE TREE AND LEAVES WILL FALL.
If he so wanted, Kume Marcial wields the power to summon all 25 members of the Meralco delegation, put them in one room and demand answers. If no one talks, it means every one is complicit and therefore an accessory to the "crime."
Fine someone. Fine somebody. Fine the whole team.
You don't let this slide Kume Marcial because the "luto" accusation just kneecapped the integrity of your officiating.
If you don't care, then you might be the problem.
So the question lingers: Did the PBA really wanted to pursue this from the get-go?
I don't know enough to say, but SPIN.ph readers, who are never shy to voice their opinions in our multiple social media platforms, have illuminated me with some damning, highly believable theories.
And the one that really sticks out is the notion that since the competitors in the now infamously heckled "luto na" game are teams owned by San Miguel and MVP, Marcial wisely chose to look away than face the wrath of titans.
If that were true, it lends added ammunition to the long-held fans' suspicion that if Calvin Abueva had played under either the SMB or TNT umbrella he would have never gotten anywhere near the 16 months of exile hell.
Make no mistake, though, an angered Kume Marcial vowed that future hecklers, when caught, will be fined heavily and even suspended.
Somehow his words ring hollow.
It echoes like Diet Coke.
Empty calories.
My personal like-dislike scorecard on Kume Marcial stood at 1-1 before the heckling incident played out.
I was ready to embrace him as decisive leader, stern in his mandate and fearless of the powerful forces around him.
And then he does this.
He pushes me away.
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