Storied Purefoods out of PBA as new owners take over

Purefoods, a household name in hot dogs and processed meat products, is bidding the PBA goodbye after the company was bought by owners who are uninterested in fielding a professional basketball team. The storied franchise was the team of Philippine basketball legends such as four-time MVP Alvin Patrimonio and Jerry Codiñera. A highly-placed source from San Miguel/Purefoods told GMANews.TV that the well-known food processing company has been sold to a group headed by Butch Campos' Del Monte Pacific Ltd. and Ricardo Po's Century Pacific Group of Companies. Campos, the son of United Laboratories (Unilab) founder Jose Yao "JY" Campos, and Po's group won the bid over another interested conglomerate, the Gokongwei-owned Universal Robina Corporation (URC). "(Unilab) and Century Pacific Group has won the bidding and will take over the Purefoods company," said the source who requested anonymity. The amount of the deal wasn't disclosed but the same source added that the Unilab Group has already purchased 100% of Purefoods, but excluding the basketball team. This means that San Miguel Corporation (SMC), which owns Purefoods' PBA franchise, will keep its third team in the pro league, only that it needs to carry a different brand. Purefoods carried a new brand name in the Fiesta Cup, the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados, an animal feeds product. How will another change in name affect the team? Blogger Jaemark Tordecilla of firequinito.com, who has watched Purefoods' games from the time of four-time MVP Alvin Patrimonio all the way to the squad's current superstar, James Yap, believes the departure of Purefoods - the brand name - will have a tremendous impact on its big number of fans. "If news of Purefoods' departure is true, then it's a sad day for the fans of one of the two most popular teams in the PBA. I've been rooting for the team since 1988. But if the team remains intact and the faces of the franchise – Alvin Patrimonio and James Yap – remain with the team, then most fans will probably continue rooting for the squad. Fans follow players and it has happened before," said Tordecilla. Tordecilla cited the case of Toyota, which disbanded at the end of the 1983 season. Most of their fans started to root for different teams. Robert Jaworski and Francis Arnaiz went to Gilbey's Gin owned by the old Palanca franchise. Gilbey's Gin later became Ginebra, which later on became the PBA's crowd darling with Jaworski as its leader. Another popular Toyota player, Mon Fernandez, went to different teams – Beer Hausen/Manila Beer, Tanduay, Purefoods and San Miguel -- and enjoyed his own popularity. "Tanduay fans became Purefoods' fans when the Ayalas bought the old Elizalde franchise," said Tordecilla. Jay P. Mercado, a resident basketball historian of MYPBA.com, agreed with Tordecilla. "It will definitely have a big impact on its fans. The brand is already part of the fans' mainstream. Other companies under San Miguel Corporation, like Petron, may take over, but it won't have the same luster, at least, not now," said Mercado. "But they made a good move by naming Purefoods B-Meg this conference. They did a great job testing the waters and reducing the impact," added Mercado. In 2001, SMC acquired Purefoods after the Ayala Group of Companies focused on telecommunications and gave up the food business. As SMC's third team, Purefoods retained its die-hard followers, with Patrimonio and Yap serving as the faces of the franchise. With the new owners of the company uninterested in running a basketball team, Purefoods' PBA franchise was left out of the sale. SMC is expected to come out with a new brand name to be carried by a team that won this season’s Philippine Cup and features players James Yap, team captain Kerby Raymundo, Marc Pingris, Paul Artadi, Roger Yap, Raffi Reavis, top Rookie of the Year candidate Rico Maierhofer, KG Canaleta, Don Allado and Peter June Simon, among others. The team also owns this year's top overall pick in the coming PBA rookie draft. GMANews.TV tried to get the side of league chairman and team board governor Rene Pardo as well as team manager Alvin Patrimonio and head coach Ryan Gregorio, but our calls weren’t answered. - JVP/HS/OMG, GMANews.TV