PBA adds more violations to COVID-19 protocol delinquents

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

 

Now that PBA practices will resume, commissioner Willie Marcial and the rest of the board decided to tighten their COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) already gave the go signal to resume five-on-five scrimmages in areas under GCQ and MGCQ which became the first step to PBA’s training comeback.

“Meron kaming bagong sistema para sa testing. Kailangan seven days before, na-swab ka, two days before na-swab ka na at nasa amin ang resulta. Kung walang resulta, hindi makakalaro,” reiterated Marcial.

The stricter swab rules will be observed as soon as the teams will already be fielded in their respective training areas.

Aside from that, the PBA also decided to increase the fine if PBA players will violate the new set of COVID-19 protocols.

“Lalakihan natin ‘yan. Hindi lalayo diyan yung penalties natin sa Clark na 100K, suspension for 10 days. Malaki ‘yan. Lalakihan natin yan kasi gusto nga natin maging successful,” added Marcial.

The commissioner reminded everyone that this has been a tough year for the league especially that the desired calendar of activities was pushed back due to another rise in the COVID-19 cases in the country.

“Hindi naman para sa kanila lang ‘to, para sa kapwa nila players, sa kapwa nilang teammates, kasama sa team, at sa mga pamilya nila at sa pamilya rin ng team members nila. Sana maintindihan nila,” shared Marcial.