MANILA — The Supreme Court (SC) has validated the election of the group of Misamis Oriental Gov. Oscar Moreno and business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan, as chairman and president, respectively, of the Basketball Association of the Philippines-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (BAP-SBP).

The high court made the validation by affirming the Court of Appeals (CA) ruling over the BAP-SBP tenure of Moreno and Pangilinan from 2008 to 2012.

In a 12-page decision issued by the Court’s Third Division, the SC voided the assumption of petitioner Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. Luis Villafuerte as BAP-SBP chairman on June 4, 2008.

The SC said the Camarines Sur representative has failed to qualify for the position, citing that the BAP-SBP By-Laws require the chairman of the Board of Trustees to be a trustee himself. Villafuerte, however, was neither elected nor appointed as one of the BAP-SBP trustees.

“In other words, petitioner Villafuerte never validly assumed the position of chairman because he failed in the first place to qualify,” the high court said in the decision.

Aside from Moreno and Pangilinan, the SC validated the election of Jose Emmanuel Eala, as executive director; Victorico Vargas, vice chairman; and Marievic Anonuevo as secretary of BAP-SBP.

The controversy stemmed from a June 12, 2008 election initiated by the SBP faction where the camp of Pangilinan and Moreno was elected to hold BAP-SBP’s top posts.

The Makati City RTC, however, declared the election as invalid after Villafuerte’s group stressed that only 19 out of the 87 member-association attended the polls.

Villafuerte’s group further claimed that the June 4 elections were authorized by a majority of the 87 stakeholders that attended the National Congress he initiated.

This prompted the Makati RTC to order Pangilinan’s men “to cease and desist from further acting as officers of the BAP-SBP” and “to turn over the affairs of the organization” to Villafuerte’s group.

The CA, however, reversed the ruling by declaring null and void the national congress convened by Villafuerte’s group. The appellate court also ordered Villefuerte’s group to quit from running the affairs of BAP-SBP.

Court records indicated that BAP and then newly-formed Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas made a joint communiqué also known as the Tokyo communiqué) to facilitate the lifting of the FIBA suspension imposed on RP.

In line with the Tokyo communiqué, the two groups formed a 3-man panel with Pangilinan as its third member and chairman.

The two basketball groups were later merged and named BAP-SBP on September 17, 2006.

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  ABS-CBN

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