The MPL-Philippines Committee laid down judgments regarding multiple incidents that happened in the opening week of Season Seven.
“Last March 21, it was brought to the attention of the MPL-PH Committee that there were some inappropriate posts and comments that took place over the course of Week 1 of the Regular Season, which led to the community’s suspicion and negative impacts on MPL-PH’s reputation,” the league’s statement read.
BREN Esports’ CJ “Ribo” Ribo and Allan “Lusty” Castromayor, and Execration’s Billy “Z4pnu” Alfonso published different posts on Facebook following the world champions’ 0-2 start, which raised serious concerns from the league.
Some of the posts alleged illegal gambling and match-fixing.
Ribo later slammed the fans’ match-fixing allegations — which all stemmed from their respective Facebook posts — using rude language.
“The MPL-PH committee began investigating these allegations upon the related players, and their posts or comments violate Section 13.2 Unprofessional Behavior and Subsection 13.2.5 Statements regarding MPL, Moonton, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, of the MPL Regular Season Rules,” the league added.
Meanwhile, Tristan “Yawi” Cabrera of Nexplay Esports was also reportedly one of the players who received punishment for his actions in Week One.
Moments after sweeping defending champions BREN Esports, Yawi moved right in front of the camera and did a choke gesture.
The gesture was reportedly banned by the league right after the conclusion of Season Six when Execration, led by Jeff “S4gitnu” Subang, did the choke pose after a reverse sweep of ONIC PH in the battle for third place.
“The MPL-PH committee decided to give internal heavy punishments and serious warning to all the related players and staff. Team Members must always be professional, especially given their social media standing, their status as a professional player of the MPL, and icons of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang community,” the statement continued.
“Any violation of the MPL-PH rules and limits will not be tolerated. Meanwhile, MPL-PH committee will work with all teams to strengthen the management of players and staff to prevent similar things from happening again.”
The teams involved have yet to release a statement as of posting time.
