Philippine basketball imports may no longer play for local academic leagues when House Resolution No. 388 (HB 388) is approved.
Deputy Speaker Michael Romero of 1-Pacman party-list asked his colleagues to support HB 388 which is “prohibition on the collegiate and university leagues from recruiting, acquiring and using non-Filipino citizens and foreign imports as players.”
Romero, a former basketball player, complained against the increasing Philippine basketball imports in collegiate tournaments made a call to schools to contribute to developing Filipino local sports talent.
Developing local sports talent versus Philippine basketball imports
The collegiate tournament is a college basketball tournament involving several schools. According to Romero, competitions like this one should be used to develop local sports talent in the Philippines. He further said that Philippine basketball imports will defeat one of the purposes of the collegiate tournament; developing local sports talent.
He holds the opinion that developing local sports talent entails supporting the ban on Philippine basketball imports as being part of university leagues. Romero argues that the ban will pass on the right message to colleges and universities, encouraging them to train and build local sports talent.
By adopting the resolution, according to the congressman, we are sending a clear message to those schools whose athletics programs are suppressing the development of homegrown talents. We want them to stop those practices against Philippine sports.
The former basketball player said that recruiting foreign players is an abuse of the rules which allowed for their admission.
DepEd and the CHEd should regulate Philippine basketball imports
Romero further calls on the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to regulate Philippine basketball imports.
A limited ban on Philippine basketball imports in the schools’ athletics programs may be deemed urgently necessary.
Monitoring the athletics programs of schools will reduce the infusion of foreign players in school leagues which is now very rampant. He said;
One athlete slot given to a foreign player is one slot denied to a Pinoy player. It is as simple as that.This call is directed at all the schools because they have the duty and responsibility to develop homegrown sports talents. There are more than enough obstacles in the path of Filipino athletes, so let us not worsen the problem by blocking the dreams of young athletes, especially in the provinces and among the urban poor.
The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have been involving foreign players in their teams. However, NCAA has promised to invest in local sports talent and cease the recruitment of philippine sports from next year.
In other countries, politicians are courting athletes as they are good vote-magnets. Bernie Sanders, for one, is asking athletes to be given salaries in return for their service. Prohibiting Philippine basketball imports from joining local academic leagues has its pros and cons – success can go both ways.
