THE Pilipinas VisMin Cup apologized to the local government of Siquijor after the province was put in a bad light by the controversial game between the Mystics and the Lapu-Lapu Heroes.
In a letter addressed to Siquijor governor Zaldy Villa, league COO Rocky Chan said the league is only banning the Siquijor Mystics, and not the province.
The letter was made after Villa clarified that the Mystics were not connected in any way to the province. The team was banned from the league after their players' questionable play raised allegations of game-fixing.
Chan explained that businessman Bernard Lim filed the application for its participation in the league, which they accepted without knowing that he and coach Joel Palapal misrepresented the province.
"We would like to extend our sincerest apologies to the people of Siquijor on the said incident that has created so much attention in the public."
"This is a learning experience for us in our quest to revive basketball and provide a means of living for the budding athletes in the Visayas and Mindanao regions," said Chan in the letter.
Chan added the league will hold an outreach program and basketball clinic in the province to show goodwill to the province.
"We are writing this letter to state that we were informed last April 14 that the Provincial Government of Siquijor was not in anyway involved with the team coached by a certain Joel Palapal who joined the Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup and disgraced not only our league and the wonderful province of Siquijor but moreso the game of basketball in a game held in Alcantara, Cebu."
"The league takes full responsibility in accepting the team which called itself the 'Siquijor Mystics' which on record was solely funded by businessman Bernard Lim when they applied to join the Visayas leg. Our fault is that we trusted them based on our 'love for the game' not knowing that Messrs Palapal and Lim misrepresented the local government unit of Siquijor," Chan said.
"Allow me to clarify that it is not the Province of Siquijor but the group of Messrs Palapal and Lim that has been banned permanently from participating in any Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup sanctioned tournament," Chan added.
___
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
