All set for outright deportation of PBA Fil-shams

by Agnes R. Cruz

MANILA: Will it be the end of the road for Fil-shams in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)?

Senator Robert Barbers, chairman of the Committee of Games, Amusements and Sports that investigated the alleged existence of fake Fil-foreign players since November of last year, has hinted at deportation for Filipino-foreign players who had submitted falsified documents in trying to prove Filipino descent to play in the PBA.

Barbers said his legal staff is studying the possibility of filing of appropriate charges against players involved.

He confirmed that about three to four of the six players summoned by his committee would be sanctioned but he refused to divulge the names of the Fil-shams whose days are “numbered”.

Barbers also refused to confirm whether immigration and justice officials would be penalized for allegedly issuing forged documents to prove the players’ Filipino ancestry.

Even the supposed Fil-Am players of the PBA who are abroad will not be spared.

“It doesn’t make a difference if they are around or out of the country as long as we could come up with the recommendation,” he said.

Barbers disclosed that members of his legal staff are in the process of “collating the different recommendations from the nine-member committee so that we could come up with a unified report” on the probe.

But he assured the public that the report would be exhaustive.

“We will have a discussion on the specific cases of the players involved,” said Barbers.

Coca-Cola’s Rudy Hatfield is facing deportation

Among those “dubious” Fil-foreign players under pressure from the Senate probe are Talk ‘n Text’s Asi Taulava, Coca-Cola’s Rudy Hatfield, Barangay Ginebra’s Eric Menk, Alaska’s Jonathan Ordonio, San Miguel Beer’s Dorian Peña and Purefoods center Andy Seigle.

All six claimed during committee hearings that they were properly documented by the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“The documents we have secured have fortified our position in making drastic recommendation like filing a case and deportation. The legal staff is reviewing this right now in hope of coming up with strong recommendations for those who violated laws in our country,” Barbers said.

The committee made an investigation and visited the place of birth of people that these players have claimed to be their relatives but could not find their birth, baptismal, residential “and even death certificates.”

The committee had wrapped up evidence and pieces of information already divulged against some dubious Fil-Ams in previous hearings.

Barbers said the “Fil-shams” failed to satisfy his series of questions regarding their true bloodlines.

“We’ve confronted them with regard to the findings and issues. Now we’re simply preparing a draft report after all the inputs and statements are collated. Then we’d present it to the plenary before we make the final report. These Fil-Ams were not even able to rebutt it,” said Barbers.

The findings mostly unearthed questionable entries on the documents the Fil-foreign players submitted to the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation and the Department of Justice to back up their claim to Filipino citizenship.

The “Fil-shams” presented little evidence, if at all, to rebutt Barbers’ findings pointing them as “fakes.”

A highlight of the final hearing was the admission of Yuri del Valle, municipal civil registrar of the town of San Jose in Northern Samar province, that he helped fix the papers of Taulava upon the request of Don Raymundo “Boy” Daza, brother of former Samar congressman and now Gov. Raul Daza.

Barbers also said in the hearing that a check made by his committee showed that the Hernandez clan of Samar, to which Taulava said he was also related, had denied such kinship.

Barbers said his committee could not find papers of the grandmother of Taulava in Northern Samar; the grandparents of Ordoño in La Union province; Peek’s grandfather in Makati; Peña’s grandfather in Negros Occidental province and Hatfield’s grandfather in La Union.

Taulava, who is currently enjoying his finest year in the PBA since joining the pro league in season, denied knowing Boy Daza, but mentioned that he knew Paul Daza, apparently the son of Gov. Daza.

The 6-foot-8 cager also claimed he had visited San Jose once in 1999, the year he got deported, and got to meet his cousin Frank Hernandez.

But in the investigation gathered by Barbers’ battery of probers, the San Jose parish priest denied having any records of Ana Hernandez, the alleged grandmother of Taulava. At the same time, the Hernandez clan from San Jose belied Taulava’s claims that he hails from that province.

Aside from Taulava, the papers presented by Menk are also questionable. The committee found out Menk’s mother had become a US citizen two years before he was born in 1972.*

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