The Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup apologized to the province of Siquijor after it was put in a bad light following game-fixing allegations involving the Mystics squad.
Chief Operations Officer Rocky Chan said in a letter to Siquijor governor Zaldy Villa that the league is responsible for letting the Mystics join the ongoing Visayas leg in Alcantara, Cebu that resulted in last week’s controversial match against the Lapu-Lapu City Heroes.
Chan’s apology came after the league discovered that the Mystics, whose listed owner is a businessman named Bernard Lim and coached by Joel Palapal, never got in touch with the provincial government regarding its participation in the Visayas phase.
“The league takes full responsibility in accepting the team which called itself the ‘Siquijor Mystics’ which on record was solely funded by businessman Bernard Lim when they applied to join the Visayas leg,” said Chan in a letter dated Tuesday, April 20.
“Our fault is that we trusted them based on our ‘love for the game’ not knowing that Messrs Palapal and Lim misrepresented the local government unit of Siquijor.
“We would also like to extend our sincerest apologies to the people of Siquijor on the said incident that has created so much public attention to the public,” added Chan. “This is a learning experience for us in our quest to revive basketball and provide a means of living for the budding athletes in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.”
The league banned the Mystics from participating in the league while the players, except for two who didn’t see action in the farcical game, as well as Palapal and his coaching staff.
Chan clarified to Villa that Siquijor can still participate in the league, and that it was only the members of the Mystics who were slapped with the punishment.
“Allow me to clarify that it is not the Province of Siquijor but the group led by Messrs Palapal and Lim that has been banned permanently from participating in the Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup sanctioned tournament,” said Chan, who added that the league plans to visit Siquijor to hold an outreach program as a way to “show our sincere apology to the people of Siquijor.”