SAN Miguel has decided against pursuing a protest over a controversial call in Game One of the PBA 49th Season Philippine Cup Finals, but remained firm in its stand that an offensive interference violation should not have been called against Mo Tautuaa in the final seconds of the match last Sunday.
A letter of protest signed by San Miguel team governor Robert Non was supposed to be filed at the PBA office before the Monday, 12 noon deadline, but SMB decided not to pursue the case, saying statements made by PBA deputy commissioner Eric Castro in a Sunday press conference will make any action an exercise in futility.
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Instead, in a meeting on Monday, Non and SMB team manager Gee Abanilla sought clarification from Castro, supervisor of officials Bong Pascual, and the three referees who were on the floor on why a review on Tautuaa’s dunk had to be made.
In an interview with SPIN.ph after Monday's meeting, Non blasted Castro and Pascual for what transpired in the final seconds of Game One, pinning the blame on ‘technical committee interference.’
Non said that when they spoke to the three referees who officiated Game One, two said they were unsure that it was an offensive interference violation, and one was sure that it was not.
“How can you suspend the referees eh tama naman sila not to call [for] a review. Bakit mo sisihin ‘yung referee? Dapat ang sisihin mo ‘yung technical committee. They altered the result of the game. Dapat nga bigyan pa ng medalya ang referee. Tama sila na hindi sila tumawag.”
“’Yung isa (referee), siguradong-sigurado. ‘Yung dalawa, hindi sigurado. Eh di mas lamang, non-call dapat. Inagaw nung dalawa [ang decision],” Non said, referring to Castro and Pascual.
Tautuaa made a dunk at the 56-second mark of Game 1 that hit the back of the rim before going straight up and in that gave SMB a 98-97 lead, but the basket was nullified after a review done by the techical committee with 6.2 seconds left found the SMB big man guilty of offensive interference.
With the two-point basket waved off, San Miguel suddently trailed by one and eventually lost Game One, 99-96.
A day later, Non was still fuming.
“Tinatawag namin ‘yun na technical committee interference. Hindi na Mo Tautuaa interference,” said Non.
Still, Non said San Miguel is already moving on from the incident and will now train its focus on Game 2 on Wednesday, where the Beermen will look to tie the season-ending best-of-seven championship series.
“Actually, wala na kaming magagawa,” said Non. “At least, narinig namin ‘yung mga referees. They are not to blame.”
Non said they were bent on putting Game One under protest that would also require a P100,000 filing fee so that they could have an opportunity to hear the side of the PBA with due process.
READ PBA defends offensive interference call on Tautuaa dunk
“Pirmado ko na ‘yan eh. Kaya lang, after what happened last night, di ba nagpa-press con siya [Castro], jinustify nila ‘yung review na ‘yun. Kung magfa-file kami ng protest for the review of the incident, parang wala na kasi nadesisyunan na nila with the press con last night. I-file ko man ito, exercise in futility lang ito. Walang mangyayari. What we did was seek clarification kung bakit nagkaroon ng review,” said Non.
For his part, Abanilla said: “I think it’s unfair because remember, we have 24 hours to file a protest. Kaya lang nung gabi pa lang, nag-press con na which is very uncharacteristic. Sana binigyan nila kami ng pagkakataon na inform muna kami na, 'Magpe-press con kami.' Kaso wala na, nandoon na, they are justifying all the things they decided on.”
Abanilla hopes the PBA will step up after the incident.
“But one thing is certain, the upper management, people upstairs, they are not happy. Ang ganda na ng laro,” Abanilla said.
“I hope ma-rectify nila ito for the sake of the fans. Not only our fans. For the PBA community. I think we deserve something better, a higher standard, I guess, in my humble opinion,” said Abanilla.
Castro and Pascual will also be speaking in an interview with Cignal TV early Monday night to discuss what happened in Game 1.
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