THE Siquijor Mystics as well as its coaches and players have been banned from the Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup for life for dubious play during a now infamous match against Lapu-Lapu Heroes on Thursday.
The Mystics shot 5 of 21 from the field, bungling wide-open layups while pretending to trip and blowing all 10 free-throw attempts before the game was mercifully called off with the Mystics down, 27-13, due to a power outage.
After videos of the game spread online, the ensuing backlash prompted an investigation and prompt action by league officials and the Games and Amusement Board (GAB), which had men inside the Alcantara bubble.
Organizers banished Siquijor from the tournament and banned its players and coaches for life. They also found enough reason to hand down suspensions and penalties on several Lapu Lapu players who saw action in the game.
According to league records, members of the Siquijor Mystics were head coach Joel Palapal, assistant Magenelio Padrigao, and players Ryan Buenafe, Erick Rodriguez, Gene Belleza, Jan Cendric Penaflor, Michael John Calomot, Jopet Quiro, Isagani Tangcay Gooc, Juan Andre Aspiras, Vincent Tangcay, Joshua Alcober, and John Peter Buenafe.
A number of the players are well-known to basketball fans.
Buenafe was a former UAAP star who won four championships at Ateneo and later played for Alaska and Meralco in the PBA. Rodriguez is a former Letran team captain who played for Ginebra, Meralco and Air21 in the PBA. Belleza played for University of the East in college.
Two members of the Mystics in head coach Palapal and player Alcober were previously linked to allegations of game-fixing.
Palapal once coached Hyperwash in the 2019 PBA D-League Foundation Cup where the Vipers reached the playoffs in their only appearance in the league.
[The many times game-fixing suspicion raised red flags in Philippine basketball]
The team, however, suffered a 180-117 loss to BRT Sumisip-St. Clare that raised red flags on game-fixing and prompted PBA commissioner Willie Marcial, who also supervises the D-League, to look deeper into the 'highly irregular results.'
According to PBA officials, Palapal was among those summoned by the D-League after a game that saw Hyper wash allow the Saints to set the league record for most points in a game (180 points), most points in a half (108 in the second half), and most points in a quarter (60 points in the third quarter).
Incidentally, Buenafe and Penaflor were also part of Palapal's Hyperwash side in the PBA D-League.
[Disturbing betting patterns cast dark cloud over PBA D-League games]
Alcober, on the other hand, was among 17 persons facing multiple cases to be filed by the Department of Justice for their alleged role in game-fixing in the MPBL when he saw action for the Soccksargen Marlins in the 2019 season.
That Marlins side lost 18 straight games to start the MPBL's Lakan season, prompting league owner Manny Pacquiao and commissioner Kenneth Duremdes to ask the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct a probe.
Weeks later, Pacquiao filed multiple counts of game-fixing and point-shaving cases against 21 persons, including all players and coaches of the Soccksargen Marlins as well as the listed team owner Kevin Espinosa and three Chinese nationals.
On Saturday, the Department of Justice recommended the filing of multiple counts of game-fixing raps against 17 persons, including all Soccksargen players and coaches. Alcober was listed in the charge sheet as Desmond aka Joshua Alcober.
Meanwhile, two Siquijor players in Sereno and Castellano have been scratched from the list of players who have been banned by the VisMin Cup for life after it was proven that they didn’t play in the controversial match.
VisMin Cup COO Rocky Chan told SPIN.ph on Friday that it is also reviewing the case of Buenafe, who played just five minutes in the controversial match before he was pulled out because of tendinitis.
Sources told SPIN.ph that like Castellano and Sereno, Tangcay also didn't see action in the game under question.
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