At the height of the word war between San Miguel Beer and Talk ‘N Text, a suggestion was made by Ricky Vargas, former chairman of the PBA Board, to prevent league officials from influencing game officials making calls during the game.
“Maybe it would be better if league officials would sit down elsewhere so as not to intimidate game officials, players or technical people in the league during games,” said Vargas.
“We’ve seen (San Miguel Beer board representative) Robert Non pointing fingers at the referees and players and shouting at technical officials.”
Following Vargas’ suggestion, PBA commissioner Chito Salud said he would consider bringing the matter to the board. “I took note of issues raised pertaining to [league] officials sitting on the bench. I will discuss my views and recommendations with the board even as I assure everyone concerned that game officials are prepped in advance by this office to anticipate these sort of dynamics and hence are aware and equipped to deal with them as they happen,” wrote Salud in his message.
Concerns over officiating have escalated resulting in a war of words between Talk ‘N Text and the San Miguel group.
On Monday night, it was Yeng Guiao’s turn to voice his opinion regarding officiating. He cited a lot of inconsistencies in the calls. The fiery mentor was thrown out of the game in the third period for continuous complaining after Cyrus Baguio was not given a stiffer penalty. The Rain or Shine mentor claimed Baguio, his former player, intentionally elbowed Paul Lee on the nose.
“It would have cost him the entire series with a dislocated nose. But my point is, why was Baguio not given a stiffer penalty while on the other hand, Beau Belga was called for a flagrant and downgraded to technical when he banged bodies with Calvin Abueva? There was a clear inconsistency there,” said Guiao.
Guiao also showed the disparity in fouls.
“In the first half alone, Alaska was awarded 29 free throws and 44 overall in the game. That’s too much,” he added. “I thought games are being allowed to be played physical. Eh kami touch fouls lang tatawagan na. Lagi na lang tuwing semis doon nagkakaroon ng breakdown sa officiating. Let’s not destroy the beauty of the series.”
