The Philippine Basketball Association’s crackdown on ligang labas players is far from over.
The league formally slapped three players — Kent Salado of NorthPort and Ato Ular and Rey Suerte of Blackwater — with P50,000 penalty each for seeing action in an invitation tournament in Davao City without permission from their respective teams.
No less than PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial sat down with the three players to explain the consequences of their action before announcing the penalty.
This is not the first time for the league to penalize those who are playing in unsanctioned tournaments.
Last week, the league fined 10 players for their participation in ligang labas games with Jio Jalalon of Magnolia being slapped with a hefty P100,000 fine on top of the sanction slapped by his mother team.
Beau Belga of Rain or Shine and JR Quiñahan of NLEX were fined P50,000 each, along with an additional penalty of P20,000 for their involvement in a brawl in an exhibition game in Cebu.
Worse, the Road Warriors terminated the contract of Quiñahan, allowing him to negotiate with other teams.
Rey Nambatac and Jhonard Clarito of Rain or Shine, Vic Manuel and Allyn Bulanadi of San Miguel Beer, Alec Stockton and Barkley Ebona of Converge, and Arwind Santos of NorthPort were also fined P50,000.
