Salud imposes lifetime ban on Balkman, SMC to re-evaluate participation in PBA

Petron Blaze import Renaldo Balkman was made to pay dearly as PBA Commissioner Chito Salud meted out a lifetime ban and a fine of P250,000 for the import’s violent actions towards his teammates and “aberrant on-court decorum” during their game against the Alaska Aces last Friday.

The announcement came after Balkman met with the commissioner yesterday noon to explain his side following his meltdown in the waning moments of their 73-83 loss to the Aces.

With just seconds remaining in that said match, Balkman was seemingly frustrated with the impending loss and argued with referees, shoved assistant coach Biboy Ravanes and teammates Ronald Tubid and Arwind Santos, who were trying to pacify him. The low point came when the former Denver Nugget and New York Knick choked Santos.

According to Salud’s statement, Balkman was meted the penalties “for initiating threatening physical contact with a referee followed by a prolonged, offensive, belligerent if not aberrant on-court decorum directed toward game officials and his Petron team mates and superiors, including the head coach and assistant coaches, amounting to a blatant and utter disrespect for the game, his own ballclub, the league, the fans and his host country.”

The commissioner added that he came upon the decision after also taking into consideration Balkman’s track record as a player, which also includes altercations during the FIBA-Americas game between Puerto Rico and Venezuela as well as the one here in Cebu, wherein he taunted the Alaska bench during the final game of the 2013 Sinulog Cup preseason tournament.

CULTURE OF

ACCOUNTABILITY

“I also took into consideration Balkman’s evident disregard for local and the host country’s sensibilities highlighted by his choking act on-court in full public view of his own teammate, who was trying to pacify him. Stiff as it maybe, this decision upholds the tenets of contextual accountability and the over-all interest of the league and the fans,” added Salud.

Salud also espoused the virtue of accountability towards all the players in the PBA, both the locals and the imports.

“I do encourage passion for the game but I also want to firmly instill a culture of accountability among our players. If one does something that violates the rules and the norms of sportsmanship and decent behaviour, he will be made accountable. The value of accountability is important for me to uphold at all times. I think it is key to this league’s continued success, the development of our players’ maturity and to their role as models to our fans, especially the youth.”

SMC REACTION

The San Miguel Corporation, the company that bankrolls three PBA squads including Petron, said it accepted the decision and was unpleased with how it hurt the company’s image. Because of this, it said in a statement that it was going to re-evaluate its participation in the league.

“We accept the decision to ban Mr. Balkman for life from the league.We do not condone his actions. The mandate of our basketball operations has always been to entertain basketball fans and foster camaraderie and a spirit of healthy competition. We pride ourselves in having great teams who serve as good role models to the youth and community.Unfortunately, the incident has been blown out of proportion and has damaged our good name,” said the official statement of SMC.

“Already, news of the incident has spread throughout the country and overseas through traditional and online media.Our reputation is of utmost importance to us because we have worked hard to cultivate this good name through the decades. But it takes only one unfortunate incident like this to undo all our efforts.As such, given the possible long-term effect of this incident to the San Miguel organization’s image, and in consideration of our need to preserve our good reputation, management has decided to re-evaluate the company’s participation in the PBA.”

Despite this, SMC said it will continue to support Filipino athletes in general.

“Moving forward, we believe sports is a pillar of Philippine society and we will continue to support it and Filipino athletes in general in meaningful ways in and out of the PBA,” added the statement.

The Blaze Boosters’ next game will be on Saturday against the tough Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. This gives the Boosters enough time to call in a replacement.

Rumors have it that Petron is set to tap former Barako Bull import and another former NBA player Rodney White.