By Waylon Galvez
Rain or Shine superstar James Yap, who is in Italy with his family to attend to "family matters," promised to head back to Manila in time for the resumption of practice in three weeks.
Rain or Shine's Maverick Ahanmisi (center) and Beau Belga (left) celebrate the shot of teammate James Yap against the Magnolia Hotshots. (MB File Photo)
Yap had earlier asked Rain or Shine team board representative Mamerto Mondragon and was told not to proceed but the former UE star insisted in going and got the green light from Yu, who co-owns the squad alongside Terry Que.
“Naintindihan naman ng mga boss,” said Yap, who requested not to go into details of his trip.
“Mai-settle ko lang sila dito, yung family ko, then babalik ako agad,” said Yap, stressing that they are religiously following safety protocols as advised by Mondragon.
“Bahay lang kami, hindi kami lumalabas kasi quarantine nga,” said Yap in a telephone interview with Manila Bulletin last Friday. “Pero nakikita naman namin na medyo okay na dito.”
“Dito naman bumaba na yung cases, pero siyempre ingat pa din kami. Talagang nandito lang kami sa bahay, kung matapos man kami sa quarantine, hindi naman kami lalabas na… nakakatakot eh,” added Yap.
Yap initially asked permission to leave from PBA commissioner Willie Marcial, who advised him to seek the approval of team officials instead.
Yap said he hopes to return in three weeks, as he looks forward to possibly returning with the team when practice resumes sometime in July, which is the target date of the PBA.
The league has barred players, coaches and other team members from travelling, particularly abroad because of the high risk of being infected by the deadly virus.
Italy is currently at No. 7 in terms of infected individuals with 234,531 and over 33,000 deaths.
The league opened last March 8 but due to the pandemic, Marcial announced its postponement. In recent days, however, the board is thinking of ways to resume at least the practice session of teams before the resumption of play in the Philippine Cup this 46th Season.