CHICAGO - The recent spate of star players migrating to rival leagues in Korea and Japan is a form of rejection that the PBA is obviously not taking well.
Threatened, and perhaps shaken to its core, the league responded with a wave of anger and aggression.
In a July 17 ruling that has just been made public, the PBA board ruled that a three-year ban will be handed down to players "who refuse to sign with their mother teams despite a valid tender offer."
READ Three-year ban awaits PBA players leaving for other leagues
The same edict applies to "all rookie prospects who refuse to sign the Unified Players' Contracts offered by the PBA teams that drafted them and leave for another league."
This rule is the Filipino crab mentality at its darkest, one that reeks with vendetta. It is also a mirror to the league's insecurity.
Amazingly, 12 members of the board, all of them business leaders whose corporations they represent command gigantic labor forces, actually decided that this was the right thing to do.
BAD LOOK, BAD PR.
Well, if the goal is to amass as much bad PR as possible while riling up an already disgruntled fan base that has for years been agitated by lack of parity and unfair trades that favor the rich teams, then the PBA is doing an excellent job.
So, as it stands, Will Navarro, Jamie Malonzo, Arvin Tolentino and several other prospective "mutineers" have been sprinkled with pariah dust, labeled as ingrates that are not allowed entry to Asia's first play-for-pay league.
They are being penalized for exercising better business judgment by signing infinitely more lucrative deals overseas so they can take better care of themselves and their families.
Unknowingly, the board may have rankled the larger community of OFWs. Can you imagine a nurse being told by a hospital that he or she can't work there for three years because they went to work in another country for better pay?
Just look at the disparity in salary to appreciate these flights.
Navarro is pulling P1.3 million a month with the FCC Busan Egis in the KBL while Malonzo's deal with the Kyoto Hannaryz is reported to be at least P2.2 million monthly.
MAKE YOUR LEAGUE BETTER.
In the PBA, the max is only P420,000 a month plus perks, bonuses, and performance-based incentives tacked on. Even with all that, very few PBA stars make over P850,000 a month..
Fractured relationships are a part of life. People leave and move on.
Instead of spewing vindictiveness against those who left, the PBA should have shown its support and manifested pride over the fact that PBA talents can compete internationally.
ANALYSIS: Player movements are normal and PBA must learn to accept it
But, no, resentment is the easier, more convenient response.
As it stews and marinates over the thought of more jewels slipping from its grasp, the PBA board can learn a lesson from what our grandmothers used to say.
"You can catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar."
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