I go away for a while, and all hell breaks loose? Apparently, while I was gone, Japeth Aguilar expressed his intention to not sign with Burger King, the team that made him the top overall pick in the 2009 PBA draft, in favor of signing with the Smart Gilas Developmental Team that would compete in the 2011 Fiba-Asia championship. Curiously, Aguilar had every opportunity to sign with Smart Gilas prior to joining the draft, but instead chose to enter to the PBA anyway. In a statement, Aguilar attributed his change of heart to a desire to continue representing the country.

It’s bullshit. A little digging would allow us to connect the dots, and give us a clearer picture of what’s happening.

Dot #1: Ronnie Nathanielsz

I always found it funny that Aguilar’s father, former PBA benchwarmer Peter, entrusted the care of his son’s career to Sri Lankan sleazeball Ronnie Nathanielsz, who now acts as the young man’s agent.

Most older Filipinos remember Nathanielsz, an alien who was granted Filipino citizenship through a presidential decree by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, as Ninoy Aquino’s antagonist in a famous television appearance in a government-controlled network. Raul Pangalanan wrote of the appearance:

I still recall the panel of inquisitors trying to corner Ninoy, and distinctly remember the smirking face of Ronnie Nathanielsz (now a sports commentator) each time Ninoy would answer (and also recall the Molave residents throwing their chinelas at the TV each time the inquisitors would ask a question). Ninoy’s interview took place inside his prison building, but he answered with such vigor and aplomb that someone said, “Sa lagay na ’yan, siya ’yung nakakulong!”

But Nathanielsz reinvented himself as a sports personality, eternally playing sycophant to various influential figures. A few years ago, he became controversial after he aligned himself with boxing promoter Murad Muhammad, who was embroiled in a dispute with Manny Pacquiao. The boxing champ’s camp came out with a statement denouncing Nathanielsz’s articles, which contained quotes that the Sri Lankan made up:

In his article, Nathanielsz quoted Team Pacquiao member Roberto "Boying" Nazario as saying: [When informed about a green card for Pacquiao and US citizenship reportedly promised by Finkel, Boying Nazario asked Pacquiao, "you want to turn your back on the Philippines?" which was the same question posed by Muhammad who said 80 million Filipinos have supported Pacquiao all the way and now he is thinking of being an American.]

The San Francisco-based Nazario, son of Pacquiao's business manager Rodolfo, stated that he has not talked to Nathanielsz, when Pacquiao tried to reach him by phone for comment.

In the same article, Nathanielsz reportedly was able to talk to Pacquiao's wife Jinkee, who begged to give comments about Pacquiao's decision to switch management teams, when he took in Shelly Finkel and lawyers Nicholas Khan and Keith Davidson (and not Kenneth, as reported by Nathanielsz) Wednesday.

"I never talked to him," said Jinkee.

Nathanielsz always has an agenda, and given his track record, it would not be a stretch to imagine he’s behind the whole thing. In various statements, Nathanielsz has stated that they had not yet talked to the SBP, the country’s basketball federation that runs the Smart Gilas program. “In deference to Smart Gilas, we have not spoken to them. We wanted to speak to the PBA and Mr. Alvarez first,” Nathanielsz told Patricia Bermudez-Hizon.

Dot #2: Ricky Vargas

Oddly enough, Nathanielsz is known to be close to Talk N Text PBA governor Ricky Vargas, who also happens to be the vice-chairman of the SBP. Last year, Nathanielsz wrote a series of stories pushing for the PBA to choose ABS-CBN as its broadcast partner -- rumors abound that he was angling for a job if the giant network took over the coverage of the league -- and repeatedly quoted Vargas saying that the choice of ABS-CBN was a no-brainer. Of course, much to Nathanielsz’ chagrin, the PBA chose Solar Sports, which provided a more attractive package for the league.

Earlier this year, there were rumors of Smart Gilas possibly acquiring the Barako Bull franchise that had been struggling financially. Nathanielsz cast Vargas as the hero, even reporting that Barako Bull owner George Chua welcomed the proposal. A few days later, Nathanielsz had to backtrack as Barako Bull’s team manager Tony Chua took issue with what he had written.

To be fair, Burger King’s team manager Lito Alvarez himself said that he believes that the SBP has had no involvement in the matter, blaming the whole mess squarely on Nathanielsz.

Dot #3: Rick Olivares

Business Mirror columnist Rick Olivares broke the news of Aguilar’s refusal to sign with Burger King late Wednesday evening, shortly after Aguilar and Nathanielsz’ meeting with Alvarez. Reading between the lines of Olivares’ scoop, it becomes apparent that he learned of the event from a source apart from those who were in the meeting, noting the careful words he used in relating what happened. Furthermore, Olivares reported that Aguilar would be playing for Smart Gilas, rather than just making it his intention to do so – something that Aguilar and Nathanielsz would later deny.

I’ve mentioned Olivares a couple of times in this space. Back in May, I linked to his series of reports on the Smart Gilas campaign in the Fiba-Asia Champions Cup. Later, I took him to task for his fluff piece on Smart Gilas import CJ Giles, which left out details on the controversial college career of the former Kansas Jayhawk. Olivares is known to be close to the SBP leadership.

The initial post by Olivares on Aguilar came with this note: “Japeth has not committed to any team. There are other issues here. And no, Gilas did not meddle here.”

However, a GMA News report probably written by Rey Joble – he files reports for the site even though he is, ironically, a colleague of Nathanielsz at Manila Standard Today – said that “Aguilar was also offered a three-year deal worth P8.76 million to play for the Rajko Toroman-coached team.”

Dot #4: Noli Eala

This whole issue would be laid to rest if the SBP just decided to issue a statement on the matter. After all, the PBA is one of the biggest stakeholders in the SBP, and if they just went ahead and said that Japeth should honor his PBA commitment – Alvarez had mentioned that they would lend Aguilar to the Smart Gilas team anyway – the issue would be moot.

But SBP, and in particular its executive director Noli Eala, had been deathly silent on the matter. Eala is a shameless grandstander of the highest order, and it is very odd that he hasn’t taken this opportunity to splash himself all over the headlines.

(By the way, would anyone be surprised if it turned out that Eala wrote a love letter to Japeth a few days before the PBA draft? “I LOVE YOU FOREVER, I LOVE YOU FOR ALWAYS. AS LONG AS I’M LIVING MY TWEETIE YOU’LL BE!”)

Suppose that before the end of the elimination round of the ongoing UAAP tournament, Rabeh Al-Husseini suddenly decides that he was quitting the Ateneo team to join Smart Gilas instead. After all, he would rather have the opportunity to represent his country rather than just a mere school, plus he hadn’t been improving as much as he should be considering that he’s playing inferior competition in the UAAP. How do you think Eala and the SBP would react?

Al-Husseini would be back in Katipunan faster than you could say “MVP.” Why should it then be different for Aguilar and Burger King?