PBA agrees to shoulder player’s expenses once infected with COVID-19

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

 

In their recent meeting with the PBA board, commissioner Willie Marcial and the teams agreed that the latter will have the responsibility of shouldering the expenses if a player tests positive for COVID-19.

“Pumayag yung mga teams na sagot nila lahat ng hospitalization ng mga players. Basta nagkasakit ng COVID-19, sasagutin ng team,”said Marcial.

According to Marcial, the move comforted most of the PBA players who initially wanted to have an insurance regarding COVID-19.

“Kasi gusto ng mga players na sana may insurance, at mabuti na-solve natin yung insurance. Parang dati na pag na-injure ang players, sagot ng team,” added Marcial.

The meeting was specifically called by commissioner Marcial to address the issue of teams covering their players’ expenses if ever someone comes up as positive.

With the recent decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases of resuming the practices for both basketball and football, the PBA is now looking to finalize their plans with hopes of pushing through its 45^th season this year.

Team workouts are now allowed and the PBA projected date for the practice will be on July 22 which will only have a certain number of players in the gym alongside a health officer and a representative from the team.