By REYNALD MAGALLON
The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League is cancelling the season of Bacolod Masskaras while its players and coaches were handed a permanent ban, the league announced on Thursday, July 30.
The decision came as the league reiterated its commitment to preserving the integrity, fairness and credibility of its games following the game-fixing allegations towards Bacolod during its 100-64 loss against Bulacan Kuyas.
The game, particularly the last 7:48 of the contest, went viral on social media after fans and observers pointed out the lack of effort to score on the part of the Masskaras. Bacolod went scoreless during that stretch, raising suspicion of alleged game-fixing.
In its statement, the league revealed that some members of the teams have already been issued with yellow cards earlier in the season and the repeated violations merited the red card from the league.
The Red Card system was personally initiated by MPBL founder and chairman Manny Pacquiao as a way to combat game manipulation. The league will still continue its investigation of the case.
“The league stresses that these measures are preventive and administrative as the league will continue its investigations together with relevant government agencies. This is not the first time that the team concerned has been warned for its actions as previous incidents were also flagged by the Office of the Commissioner,” MPBL said in the statement.
“The MPBL stands firm against any attempt to tarnish the sanctity of Philippine basketball. Swift and decisive action will continue to be taken against any conduct that threatens the trust of our fans, team owners and the public,” it added.
MPBL vowed that it will remain relentless and uncompromising in eradicating game-manipulation in the league and that the integrity of the game will always comes first.
