Despite his intention to pull out of the PBA, Ever Bilena Cosmetics president Dioceldo Sy is not turning his back on Philippine sports and helping out its athletes.
Thursday evening, the 62-year-old self-made billionaire shared that he is planning to sell his PBA team Blackwater Elite — a franchise he bought in 2014 for a cool PHP 120M. His base price is PHP 150M.
“Bahala na PBA, but my heart is decided to sell,” he told Tiebreaker Times, adding that he is “tired” of the allegations raised against him and his team that they broke quarantine protocols.
But that does not mean that he is also pulling the plug on his support for women’s basketball.
Since 2015, Sy has been financing the women’s national basketball team program.
The team reached new heights under his watch. This includes its promotion to Level I status back in 2017 and winning a historic bronze medal in the 2019 FIBA Under-18 Asia Cup.
Besides this, Sy is also one of the program boosters for reigning, defending six-time UAAP champion National University.
“I’ll continue supporting NU and Gilas Women’s. Wala naman tayong problema dun eh.”
A new sport that Sy is looking to support is boxing.
This has been a long-time dream of the Filipino-Chinese businessman, as he almost managed Manny Pacquiao before.
And now, he is in talks with Gerry Penalosa and Pacquiao on promoting and grooming the next Filipino world champion.
“I’m letting go kasi I want to switch to boxing. I’m currently talking to Gerry, and hopefully Manny when he comes back from General Santos, to support a few boxers. It’s going to be much cheaper for me, and I can still help out our athletes,” he said.
The money gained from the potential sale of Blackwater will be used in both women’s basketball and boxing.
For his part, Sy can’t wait to get out of the league.
“If there’s anything that comes up in the next few days and the price is right, I’m going to agree immediately.”
