Amidst a heated scuffle in the first quarter of Alaska-Globalport Game 2 which saw 13 technical fouls handed out, PBA Commissioner Atty. Chito Narvasa tried his best to prevent further damage.
Dondon Hontiveros and Anthony Semerad got entangled initially and both players fell down late in the first period; Jay Washington came in to help Semerad get back on his feet but Calvin Abueva got in the way.
Washington did not like the gesture from Abueva and shoved him. Vic Manuel saw what happened and also pushed Washington from behind.
All five players received technical fouls for second motion, while eight others were handed out technicals for entering the court, including Globalport Governor Erik Arejola and Team Manager Bonnie Tan and Alaska coaches Alex Compton, Dickie Bachmann, and Jeffrey Cariaso.
That was when Narvasa entered the court too to storm to the scene. Later on he clarified the main intent of the move was preventing the scene from growing worse.
“Hindi natin pwedeng pabayaan yun. Second game pa lang, mag-aaway na? Tsaka ayaw ko magsuspend. Sayang naman, ang ganda ng mga laro diba,” Narvasa shared.
“(That was) to prevent any fights. Escalation pa lang, I just wanted to separate the players. I always do that when I was commissioner of the NCAA. You always have to stop it.”
During the scuffle, Narvasa was also seen pointing fingers to Hontiveros. But Hontiveros stated Narvasa was only doing his job as commissioner of the league.
“It is his job to really protect the league and the interest of the fans. What if may mangyari pa more than doon,” Hontiveros said, adding he approached Washington to apologize although Narvasa insisted on sending back to the bench first since things were still heated.
“Gusto ko sanang lapitan si Jay (Washington) para mag-apologize pero commissioner told me go back to the bench, parang mamaya na lang daw. I was about to talk to Jay Wash and tell him hindi ako kasama, it was between the other guys.”
Narvasa hopes by asserting control, there will be no such instances in the future as he did a preventive move.
“So iisipin nila siguro, uy, ayoko na (gawin ulit), baka ako masuspend. So that is the idea, prevention,” he said. “Tsaka kung magkakasakitan, edi I have to suspend people pa? Mabuti na yang ganyan, magtigil (agad). Kumpleto pa ang kanilang lineup.”
