Commissioner: OK for players to see action in other leagues

Cris Bautista, the newly appointed Pilipinas VisMin Cup commissioner, assured the Games and Amusement Board that new management will do whatever it takes to eliminate controversies, such as game-fixing, and other shenanigans that rocked the league in its first season.

On Wednesday, Bautista met with the officials of GAB headed by chairman Baham Mitra and shared to them the league’s vision under his leadership.

Bautista was accompanied by league executive Shiela Salaysay while joining chairman Mitra were Atty. Ermar Benitez, the agency's legal counsel, and Eduard Trinidad, commissioner for operations.

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Bautista bared that the new VisMin Cup will allow players to take part in different leagues such as the MPBL, Pilipinas Super League, FilBasket League and NBL, among others, as playing basketball has been their source of livelihood.

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"There's no such thing as exclusivity," said Bautista. "Bakit natin sila pipigilan, eh hanap-buhay nila ang paglalaro ng basketball? Mas maraming liga silang nilalaruan, mas maganda kasi tuloy-tuloy ang paghahanap-buhay nila."

To ensure there won't be conflicts with other leagues or teams they would play for, Bautista presented to the GAB the idea of implementing a monthly or per-conference contract for each player.

"It's ideal to have seasonal contracts. Paano kung off season? Kawawa naman ’yung mga teams," added Bautista.

"Imagine mo kung yearly ang contract nila and then our tournament or season will last for only 2 or 4 months, lugi ang mga teams. Ano ang gagawin ng mga players sa offseason?

“So para maging fair tayo sa mga team owners and players as well, we should implement a per conference contract or monthly contract, depending on the agreement between the player and the team."

The per conference or monthly contract will also allow players to study their options.

More importantly, the new management will implement strict screening of teams, officials running the team, and players.

"That's why we're starting with only 6 teams, so we can control them easily," added Bautista. "If ever we will expand, we'll do it gradually, but we'll have strict screening of teams participating."

Under previous management last year, the inaugural staging of the VisMin Cup, the league was marred by game-fixing incidents that saw players and team officials from Siquijor Mystics getting banned from participating in the league and players and officials from ARQ Builders Lapu Lapu City Heroes being slapped with hefty fines.

Bautista is going to furnish GAB a copy of the league letter, assuring the agency that such controversy won't happen again under his watch.