THE PBA plans to revisit the Uniform Players Contract (UPC) in order to adopt to the changing times.
Among the provisions in the UPC the league board is planning to address are the rules on players with expiring deals, injuries while still under contract, and possible fines on contract violations either by players, teams, or both.
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“The UPC has been in existence for more than four decades already, and it’s high time to revisit it given the developments and changes in the basketball world,” said treasurer Atty. Raymond Zorilla of Phoenix during the Wednesday press conference that followed the PBA board’s annual planning session in Boracay over the weekend.
The UPC had been put under the microscope in the just concluded season following Kiefer Ravena’s decision to play for the Shiga Lakestars in the Japan B. League while still under contract with NLEX.
The two-time UAAP MVP from Ateneo was eventually given clearance by the league board to play overseas, notwithstanding questions on the legality of the move.
“The main trust of revisiting the UPC is to make it a contract of sanctity that would not be violated, that it is fair not only to the PBA, to the team, but to the player as well,” said Zorilla, who was joined in the presser by chairman Ricky Vargas, vice chairman Bobby Rosales, and commissioner Willie Marcial.
Tripartite agreement
At the same time, Zorilla mentioned plans of making the PBA a third party in the UPC, which currently is a two-way agreement between player and his mother ballclub.
“We would also suggest that the PBA be a part of the UPC. Previously the UPC is between the team and the player,” said the league official. “But right now we’re going to make it a tripartite agreement with the PBA as a party to the contract.”
Urgent revisions to the UPC that will be tackled by the league’s Management Committee before it is submitted to the PBA board for approval.