According to BANMI, UFO, and UBA referee Arnold Mesa, the situation arose when the UFO was claimed to have been “discriminating” players involved in the United Basketball Association’s (UBA) 16-and-under and 18-and-under games.
The discriminatory complaint resulted from the UFO using the court for their tournament instead of the players from the U16 and U18 leagues.
Mesa stated that the UFO needs the court more than those players for now, because they are currently helping the CNMI National basketball team. “Discrimination had nothing to do with the UFO taking the court away from the U16 and U18 players, because their championship tournaments just ended a couple of weeks ago.”
Mesa wondered how the UFO could be discriminating against anyone, when they even require having at least two local players in each team.
“The fact that I’m an official in their games proves those complaints wrong,” stated Mesa.
“If Guam’s national team was able to go to the Philippines and practice there with professional players, why is the CNMI national team here being deprived of their right to prepare for the Micro Games? The CNMI national team needs these games to help them sharpen their skills.”
The UFO Inter Organizational Basketball Tournament’s recent schedule was settled for Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Because of the schedule conflict, the UFO’s games will be transferred to Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Mesa protested against the new schedule, because it could then conflict with the Budweiser Basketball League, which has games at the same date and time.
Mesa pointed out that numerous players from the UFO are also active in the Budweiser Basketball League games. As a result, merging the two leagues in the same schedule would cause disorder.
Mesa hopes that Director Tony Benavente of Parks and Recreations could narrow down this complaint. He sees the UFO games as an “opportunity to grow with the Filipino society.”
