Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — PBA player John Amores’ attempted murder case was brought up during the Senate deliberation on the Games and Amusement Board’s (GAB) proposed budget for 2025, prompting Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go to direct the agency to check on the “anger management issues” of PBA players.
During the subcommittee on finance’s Monday hearing, Go said there is a need to investigate Amores’ case so it does not happen again.
“Study this carefully so it does not happen again. As for me, it needs to be investigated, but at your level, it is your mandate to check before you issue permits. Please look at this anger management issue because there are previous incidents. There were instances in the past, which means there’s a tendency,” he said in Filipino.
Go said before Amores fired a gun at another man after a basketball game in Laguna in September, the PBA player already had a history of “hurting” NCAA players in 2022.
“Kindly strengthen your rules or your policy. Prevention is essential here. We can prevent this, and we’ll not blame each other. Prevention is important…Work closely with the PBA, not only with the PBA,” he added in Filipino.
READ: John Amores involved in shooting incident in Laguna–reports
Prior to Go’s prodding, GAB Chairperson Francisco Rivera said they had coordinated with PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial about the incident, maintaining that it should be the PBA that should first investigate the matter, especially Amores’ possible expulsion from the league.
Rivera also admitted that before Amores was drafted by the PBA, the player obtained a professional basketball license from the GAB, and his records, including his tendency towards violence, were evaluated.
He said Amores passed the evaluation, but he later admitted that the agency believes that the player has anger management issues.
“On the basis of his past conduct, it appeared to the GAB that it was still manageable and again, in the interest of giving him the opportunity to play for the professional leagues and on the strength of his undertaking, we gave him a license. At present, considering the gravity of the offense that he committed at this time, the same argument probably would no longer work for him,” Rivera explained.