PBA fines Aquino on alleged mauling incident

MANILA, Philippines – To the eyes of Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) commissioner Sonny Barrios, Marlou Aquino remains as the league’s gentle giant. But that won’t spare the 6-foot-9 Sky Scrapper from paying a P20,000 fine for the alleged mauling incident wherein the Sta. Lucia player and five unidentified men were involved. Gitesa Raju Giduani, a 24-year-old businessman, identified Aquino and five others as those who mauled him after the Burger King-Sta. Lucia match. But after gathering facts based on the police investigation and hearing Aquino’s side of the story, Barrios concluded the 1996 Rookie of the Year had no intention of harming the fan. “From my end, I have concluded there was no physical contact from Marlou. But with his confrontation a melee broke out wherein a fan received blows from Sta. Lucia supporters," said Barrios. The commissioner also told Aquino to keep his emotions in check even in the most trying of times, especially in relation to acts against paying fans – the lifeblood of the league. The melee started when the fan reportedly taunted Aquino. Aquino’s daughters, who happened to be seated nearby, reportedly confronted the fan and asked him to refrain from using obscene language against their father. An exchanged of heated words took place near the exit gate where Aquino confronted Giduani, but it was the Sta. Lucia centers’ friends who reportedly punched the fan. For PBA ethics committee head Rene Pardo of Purefoods, there’s no excuse for Aquino’s action even if he intends to do no harm. “There’s no excuse for any PBA member be it a player, referee or official to attack a PBA fan. The fans will always be partisan but they are the lifeblood of the league. Without the fans, the league will die a natural death," said Pardo. Only recently, the ethics committee, whom Pardo chaired, summoned a PBA referee for issuing an obscene gesture to the fans. The alleged mauling incident involving a player is a delicate one and should be handled carefully by the Office of the Commissioner. But Sta. Lucia coach Boyet Fernandez came to the aid of his disgruntled slotman saying that Aquino wouldn’t do such thing: “This is just third hand information, but people who witnessed said Marlou came to the scene to just pick up his daughters and accompany them to our team’s dugout." “And knowing Marlou, he won’t do such thing as I knew him as a person. Kung siya nga ang sumuntok sa fan, baka hindi lang ganun ang inabot noon," said Fernandez, who added that Sta. Lucia would not tolerate such act. In fact, it was the team’s policy of fining players who would do such untoward behavior as in the case of Joseph Yeo, who was fined by the Realtors management on the second motion he gave to James Yap during their Philippine Cup championship series last year. – GMANews.TV