PBA chairman Ricky Vargas lamented that he is “deeply bothered” by the remarks made by Alaska Aces team owner Wilfred Steven Uytengsu when the latter appeared as a guest on a television show earlier this week.
Uytengsu appeared on ESPN5’s Sportscenter last February 12. He rued the league’s “unlevel playing field” as he believes “it’s just two companies that are essentially running the league”, pertaining to the SMC and MVP groups.
“I am deeply bothered by public statements made by WS Uytengsu of Alaska,” said Vargas in a statement.
Vargas said that he isn’t surprised with Uytengsu’s words – he’d done the same in the PBA Press Corps Awards last January – but pointed out Uytensu should have instead raised his concerns to the governors.
“The statements of WSU do not surprise me at all as this has always been his way to ventilate his thoughts in public from the hip. What was proper was for him to discuss his grievance with the PBA Board of Governors where his team is ably represented by a Governor who is now the Vice Chairman of the Board,” he said, referring to Dickie Bachmann.
“There he can formalize his grievance and submit proof to substantiate his claims. No story-telling nor hearsay. Making unfounded statements will only be detrimental to the league.”
Vargas also said the last thing the league needs are more issues.The PBA has just recovered from a leadership debacle last 2017, when the board was divided in supporting the term of then-commissioner Chito Narvasa.
“We have already hurdled a challenge that divided us in the recent past. We now have a Commissioner who is grounded with his work. Baseless statements will not help us move forward,” said Vargas.
Vargas even invited Uytengsu to “attend the PBA Board meetings so that he will know first hand what is going on”.
Now, Vargas will leave this issue to the league’s Ethics Committee, “to determine if the statements of WSU are indeed detrimental to the PBA, and to take disciplinary action as may be provided in our rules.”
“I am deeply bothered by public statements made by WS Uytengsu of Alaska but I leave it to the PBA Ethics Committee to review his remarks, and if necessary, to take appropriate action.
“WSU has questioned the integrity of the PBA by alluding to questionable trades, violations of the rule on the salary cap, and control of the affairs of the PBA by two corporate groups, among others. The statements of WSU do not surprise me at all as this has always been his way to ventilate his thoughts in public from the hip,” he added.
“What is proper was for him to discuss his grievance with the PBA Board of Governors where his team is ably represented by a Governor who is now the Vice Chairman of the Board. There he can formalize his grievance and submit proof to substantiate his clstorytellingy telling nor hearsay. Making unfounded statements will only be detrimental to the league,” he continued.
“Moreover, as far as my term as Chairman is concerned, none of the insinuations made by WSU were ever raised in the PBA Board. We have already hurdled a challenge that divided us in the recent past. We now have a Commissioner who is grounded with his work. Baseless statements will not help us move forward,” he expressed.
“I encourage WSU to attend the PBA Board meetings so that he will know first hand what is going on. I also encourage the Ethics Committee to determine if the statements of WSU are indeed detrimental to the PBA, and to take disciplinary action as may be provided in our rules.”
