Blackwater Bossing owner Dioceldo Sy expressed his concerns regarding the plan to start the 46th PBA season on April 18 because of the spike in COVID-19 positive cases in Metro Manila.
The league initially penciled the league return on April 11, but moved it to the 18th for the season-opening Philippine Cup.
But the surge in cases could only do harm to the intentions of the league, with the upward trend of new infections triggering a massive effort from the government to contain the pandemic.
“With the rise of COVID positive now I doubt the PBA opening on 11 or 18,” said Sy when he appeared Saturday, March 20, on the weekly sports show The Chasedown on One PH over Cignal TV.
“Baka ma-extend na naman ang ating opening the way I look at it. Sa ngayon ang hirap mag-plano, everything is so fluid (The opening might be extended again the way I look at it. Right now it’s hard to make plans, everything is so fluid),” added the amiable team owner.
The 12 teams have all resumed their small group practice sessions recently, although the league commissioner’s office is still waiting for instructions from the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) for the return of 5-on-5 scrimmages.
According to Sy, he thought that all is well until the sudden increase on new COVID-19 cases possibly due to new variants or strains of the virus,.
“Last February everything seems to be going great. In fact I’ve been spending holidays with my kids… it might be canceled next week because with the spike in positive,” he said.
“Everything is hanging. These coming days or weeks we’ll see what happens. It’s hard to predict our situation now.”
Sy is actually excited with the start of the all-Filipino conference since the team would carry a new moniker of “Bossing” and with the addition of rookie players like rookie Andre Paras.
Sy recently said that Paras, selected 27th overall in the third round, is the steal of the 2021 PBA Rookie Draft with his basketball skills, as well as marketability with his looks.
Blackwater and its mother company Ever Bilena are for wellness and beauty products.
However, even negotiating with contracts of new recruits is hard said Sy because of the virus situation.
“Mahirap makipag-negotiation, I’d like to see them live sa ensayo sana (It’s hard to negotiate now, I’d like to see them live on practice session),” said Sy. “I’ll talk to my coaches first before I ask them (rookies) to come to my office.”