As Rafe Bartholomew once pointed out, nowhere have people loved lookalikes as much as here in the Philippines. He further noted:

Finding kamukhas is a tier-two national pastime just behind basketball, cockfighting and videoke. I remember traveling to a PBA game in Bacolod City with the Alaska Aces in 2007, where the night before the game I spent almost two hours sitting in front of a TV with five of the players, all of us watching and pointing out kamukhas for each other and anyone else we happened to know. When the albino Filipino comedian Redford White came up on screen, my white ass was toast. But no matter how realistic -- or, as was more often the case, unrealistic -- the resemblance between two kamukhas, the response was the same: uproarious laughter.

Of course, when it comes to the PBA, three recent lookalike combinations come immediately to mind. There’s the sweet-shooting former Purefoods guard Noy Castillo, who’s a deadringer for Edu Manzano. There’s former Ginebra fireman and current UST coach Pido Jarencio, whose resemblance to comedian Allan K. was first noted by Joey de Leon and has been an Eat Bulaga staple. And the Ginebra swingman Junthy Valenzuela has had to endure unfortunate Diego chants at PBA games because he apparently reminds people of the Pambansang Bading ng Pilipinas.

So in this week’s poll, we ask, which of these lookalikes are your favorite? And if you don’t like any of the options, leave a comment in this post with your choice.

In last week’s poll, the 1989 San Miguel bigote challenge, everyone’s favorite Skywalker Samboy Lim ran away for a slam dunk, garnering more than twice the votes of his nearest rival, Mon Fernandez.

A few hours ago, Rey Joble tweeted this interesting little nugget: "After the Japeth Aguilar incident, the PBA is now ready to rock the boat of the SBP"

And rock the boat they did. Tonight, incoming PBA chairman and Burger King team manager Lito Alvarez said he was planning to revisit the PBA's national team commitment:

Just when the Philippine Basketball Association is about to give way to Smart-Gilas in representing the country in major Asian tournaments, controversial rookie Japeth Aguilar suddenly made the league’s new chairman change his mind.

Burger King team manager Lito Alvarez, who succeeded Joaqui Trillo early this month as the PBA’s new chairman, is now soliciting the support of the board to revive the league’s active involvement in major Asian basketball tournaments.

Here's what the SBP by-laws say:

How are national teams formed for elite international competitions?

The Corporation authorizes the representatives from the professional sector to form, prepare and enter the men's Philippine National Team to elite international competitions such as the Olympics, the World Championships, the FIBA Championships and the Asian Games including the qualifying tournaments for such competitions, subject to such applicable rules and regulations and accreditation requirements.

Curiously, the original representatives to the board of trustees from the professional sector were Ely Capacio of San Miguel, Ricky Vargas of Talk N Text/Smart Gilas, then-PBA Commissioner Noli Eala, and Tony Chua of Barako Bull. However, there were elections held last year with current Commissioner Sonny Barrios taking Eala's place as the professional representative on the board. Eala, however, still sits on the board in his capacity as Liga Pilipinas president.

There’s a raging discussion on the Japeth Aguilar issue all over the Internet, and at the Interbasket forums, my last piece on Japeth was posted on the thread. Anyway, one of the commenters, Patay-Butiki, who I assume runs the excellent Patay ang Butiki blog, (UPDATE: the commenter Patay-Butiki is not involved in the excellent Patay ang Butiki blog) had this to say:

well, firequinito does know his reporters. i'll give him that. but i just don't get the analogy with rabeh/ateneo. it's like comparing apples with oranges.

and the problem with blogs (unlike regular sports columns) is that you can hurl accusations and jump to outlandish conclusions and pass them off as facts.

Well, first, let’s tackle the Rabeh/Ateneo analogy. The PBA and the UAAP are both stakeholders of the SBP, which runs the Smart Gilas program. I’m not clear about the agreement between the SBP and the UAAP regarding the participation of the league’s players in the program, but we can deduce implicitly that participation with the varsity teams during the UAAP tournament is prioritized; Dylan Ababou, Mark Barroca, JR Cawaling, and Aldretch Ramos stopped training with the Gilas team to concentrate on the UAAP, while Ateneo stalwarts Rabeh Al-Husseini and Ryan Buenafe have deferred participation in the Gilas team’s international training last summer to concentrate on their commitments to Ateneo.

Meanwhile, prior to the Japeth saga, there were talks that the PBA was going to be willing to lend their players to the Gilas team in the future, pending some agreements. Gabe Norwood, Jared Dillinger, and Aguilar were reportedly being considered by Gilas coach Rajko Toroman to reinforce his team.

All that, of course, went to hell went Aguilar decided not to accept Burger King’s contract offer, and stated that he intends to play for Gilas full-time instead. BK manager Lito Alvarez asks the SBP to speak on the issue, but they prefer to keep mum. At this point, Aguilar and his agent Ronnie Nathanielsz say that it’s a unilateral decision on their part, and they have not spoken with the SBP.

Now, what if Rabeh Al-Husseini, the reigning UAAP Most Valuable Player, unilaterally decided to follow Japeth’s path, quit Ateneo, and play for Gilas exclusively? After all, Gilas had previously expressed interest in tapping his services, and surely it must be a greater honor to wear the Pilipinas jersey than a jersey of just one UAAP school. Will the SBP still maintain a hands-off stance?

The comparison is not apples to oranges, but Burger King apples to Ateneo apples.

Second, let’s talk about “hurling accusations” and “jumping to outlandish conclusions.” Here’s the gist of what I said in my previous post:

1. Ronnie Nathanielsz has been known to be less than truthful if it advances his agenda.


2. Nathanielsz has a good relationship with Ricky Vargas, who happens to be vice-chairman of the SBP.


3. Rick Olivares, a writer known to have close ties with the SBP, broke the news of the meeting between Aguilar (with Nathanielsz) and Alvarez shortly after it happened on Wednesday.


4. Noli Eala, the SBP executive director who loves to grandstand in the media, has been mum on the issue.


5. Word from the SBP on the issue would settle this whole thing quickly, especially if Aguilar’s camp is being truthful that his decision to refuse the BK offer was done without the SBP’s knowledge.

I don’t see any accusation or outlandish conclusion.

I also take issue over the idea that “regular sports columns” never hurl accusations or jump to outlandish conclusions. I can point you to Olivares’ latest column, which is full of innuendo regarding Yeng Guiao’s performance in Tianjin – whether it’s true or not is another matter – or you can Google the term “Ronnie Nathanielsz” and see that the first result is a message board thread about him being a liar.

By the way, message board people, I don’t mind if my stuff is copied-and-pasted everywhere, but I would really appreciate it if you guys linked to the article along with the post. Thanks!

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?

“The Hawaiian Punch” Brian Viloria defended his IBF light-flyweight championship in a unanimous decision over Mexican challenger Jesus Iribe. The bout was not particularly eventful, with Viloria outpointing his opponent by using his superior boxing skills. The victory did not come as a surprise, as boxing blogger Tim Starks noted prior to the fight: “Iribe went the distance with Edgar Sosa, so he's not a total softie, but he only won one round on three scorecards, so there's that. Even the unmotivated, wrong-headed version of Viloria that Brian seemed to banish with his defeat of Ulises Solis shouldn't have any trouble beating Iribe.”

In the co-feature, AJ Banal won a decision over Jose Angel Beranza, in a testy matchup marked by a clash of heads in the ninth round that bloodied both fighters. Another Filipino fighter, Dennis Laurente, opened the card with yet another decision over Mexican Zaid Zavaleta.

The bout against Iribe was a stay-busy fight for Viloria, who now looks forward to possibly fighting the other champions in his division for a bigger payday. He has to wait though, as Ivan Calderon is set to face another Filipino, Rodel Mayol, for a rematch on September 12.