Philippine Sports News and Updates

Evidently, billiards has a huge following in the Philippines, which is home to some five million pool players. This is according to a survey done by Social Weather Stations headed by Mahar Mangahas, himself an aficionado of this exacting and fascinating sport.

In response to the reader feedback, this column explores the controversy further.

Two managers—Perry Ma­riano (no relation to this columnist) and Aristeo Puyat—have bolted the Billiards & Snookers Congress of the Philippines and have forbidden their players to participate tournaments sponsored by the BSCP and organized by Raya Sports.

 According to BSCP chairman and Raya Sports president Yen Makabenta, boycott is a familiar tactic of Puyat who for the better part of two decades had been using it against the BSCP in the selection of players for the Southeast Asian Games and Asian Games. At least two of the country’s top pool players, Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante, have missed many chances—and not just twice, as claimed by some quarters—to represent the flag because of the power plays of their manager Puyat.

The irony is that the repeated boycott, more often than not, has backfired on the instigators themselves.

In the 1998 Asian Games Puyat sought to deprive the Philippine team of A and B players, leaving the BSCP to scrape the proverbial bottom of the barrel. However, Gandy Valle and Snooky Villanueva won a gold medal at the Asiad.

In the 2005 SEA Games Puyat withdrew his players from the RP team at the last hour after insisting during the preparations that only they should play. Result: the RP team won eight gold medals.

In the national championship the absent Reyes and Bustamante were not missed. Their absence only reinforced the impression that their best years are behind them and they cannot win anymore.

Irreconcilable differences

The Philippine Olympic Committee has called on the two sides in the ongoing pool row to mend their differences—but they may be irreconcilable.

At a press conference last week, BSCP president Ernesto Fajardo said: “Enough. Never again will we allow our association and the Philippine billiards community to be held hostage by individuals or groups pursuing their private agendas.”

In reply to the boycott announced by Perry Mariano and Aristeo Puyat, billiards patrons led by BSCP treasurer Sebastian Chua have established the Philippine Billiards Development Foundation (PBDF), which will henceforth undertake the support and training of a national pool of players of different age levels.

Significantly, the PBDF has offered players monthly financial assistance and a no-commission policy on winnings—in stark contrast to the 40 percent extracted by the likes of Perry Mariano from their players’ winnings and bonuses.

 The PBDF has already bagged some major catches: Marlon Manalo, Antonio Gabica of Perry Mariano’s own Bugsy Promotions and Renemar David, a player managed by Edwin Reyes, spokesman for the Perry Mariano-Aristeo Puyat faction.

“The exodus has begun,” said PBDF executive director Jun Diokno.

Of equal concern to the billiards community is the boycott instigators’ disregard for international competition.

Insular agenda

According to the BSCP, Perry Mariano and Aristeo Puyat have acknowledged that they couldn’t care less about having foreign players play on Philippine venues. Their agenda is insular. Their players are just out to cash paychecks, not win world titles.

This is a huge comedown from the dreams and excitement that marked the 2007 World Pool Championship at the Araneta Coliseum last November. Perhaps it is better that Filipino pool go through this ordeal now rather than papering over the problems.

The crushing issue of illegal gambling and game-fixing staring through the scheme of a pool team league, as proposed by Perry Mariano and Aristeo Puyat, must certainly be faced. Filipino pool cannot move forward if dragged by this debilitating conflict of vision—one faction that sees pool as indubitably an individual sport like tennis and golf, and another seeking to turn it into a team sport like basketball.

The stakes are high—that is why some are playing dirty.

I have no difficulty in choosing a side here. The BSCP and Raya Sports, who have turned the Philippines into an epicenter of pool, deserve the public’s support.