THE PBA is pulling all stops in an effort to finally get its Season 46 going.
Commissioner Willie Marcial recently met with Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman BenHur Abalos and Testing Czar Secretary Vince Dizon and discussed ways on how to go about ushering the new season, which hopefully gets to formally kick off by July.
The discussion among the three officials centered on vaccination and the ongoing team scrimmages.
Following the meeting, Marcial is set to send a new letter of request before the Inter-Agency Task Force about allowing the 12 teams to finally hold practices in their respective training facilities within Metro Manila (NCR) once the government eases lockdown in the NCR Plus area by the end of June.
PBA teams are currently holding scrimmages in Batangas and Ilocos Norte, with TnT Tropang Giga and Meralco holding their respective bubble training camp in Laoag.
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At the same time, Marcial will try to ask the IATF for possible hints if the league can get a go-signal to finally play the season-opening Philippine Cup by next month.
The league chief said the successful bubble season at Clark last year and the continuous practices of teams with hardly a dent on the safety of players and personnel during this off season would be highlighted in his report before the government Task Force.
"More than one month nang nagpa-practice ang mga teams and halos perfect yung semi-bubble natin," said Marcial. "Maganda na nadi-disiplina ang mga teams at yung mga players nadi-disiplina nila yung mga sarili nila."
Also, once practices are allowed in NCR, MMDA will be lead the agency in-charge of directly communicating with various Local Government Units (LGUs) to allow teams to conduct scrimmages in facilities within their respective localities.
"Pag nag GCQ na (without restrictions) by July 1, puwede nang mag-scrimmages dito sa NCR. Pero ang letter ko sa MMDA na lang, hindi na sa kanya-kanyang mayors. As a whole, sila na (MMDA) ang mag-aaddress niyan," said Marcial.
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Also in attendance during the meeting were Games and Amusement Board (GAB) Chairman Abraham Mitra, MMDA General Manager Undersecretary Jojo Garcia, and MMDA legal counsel Atty. Don Artes.(RG)
