Last Friday, Bloomberg reported that Kirin was looking into the possibility of raising its stake in San Miguel Brewery. The Japanese beer giant already owns 48% of the company, with San Miguel Corporation owning 51%.

An increase in stake would almost certainly give Kirin control of San Miguel Brewery’s operations, which include significant inroads into the growing Southeast Asian market that the former covets. However, any deal for the Brewery would certainly come at a premium, but if Kirin is willing to dance, San Miguel Corporation might be willing to listen. After all, the Danding Cojuangco-chaired conglomerate has been actively seeking to diversify into high-growth, capital-intensive businesses over the last couple of years. Just this month, San Miguel has been reported to be included in deals involving a power plant in Mindanao, a major expressway from Manila to Tuguegarao, and an MRT project from Manila to Bulacan.

It would be hard to imagine San Miguel Corporation giving up control of its flagship brand, but stranger things have happened in the world of business. The conglomerate, in fact, has been quite active in major transactions involving large food and beverage businesses in the country. In 1998, San Miguel sold its stake in its ice cream and dairy business to erstwhile joint venture partner Nestle, which led to Magnolia ice cream being off the market for five years. In 2001, San Miguel bought the Purefoods business from the Ayala Corporation, which was looking to raise funds to finance capital expenditure for its Globe Telecom business. In 2007, San Miguel sold its stake in the local Coke business to the Coca-Cola Company, effectively ending a partnership that dates back to 1927.

Curiously, the last two transactions directly involved PBA ballclubs. It remains to be seen how this potential transaction would affect the status of the San Miguel team, who are a big part of the company’s culture owing to Cojuangco’s love of the sport; the Brewery’s corporate website, in fact, reserves a prominent spot for the Beermen. Will the San Miguel Corporation retain control of the Beermen even if it no longer controls the Brewery? Will the PBA franchise be re-assigned to another San Miguel subsidiary, that is, welcome back, Magnolia Beverage Masters? Or will Kirin take control of not just the Brewery, but the team as well?

Charlie Cuna has an interesting piece catching up with Poch Juinio, whom most fans remember as the starting center for Alaska’s champion teams in the ‘90s. Prior to that, Juinio starred for a woeful UP Fighting Maroons squad a few years removed from the glory years of Benjie Paras and Ronnie Magsanoc.

Charlie’s chat with Poch – or as my cousin loved to call him back in Alaska’s grand slam days, Edward ‘The Poch’ Juinio – was interesting enough and I encourage everyone to go and read it, but the best part of his article were a couple of old photos from the big guy’s UP days.

This one features a young Poch hanging out with his teammates, which include my coaching idol and favorite, Ryan Gregorio!



Coach Ryan looks like he’s 12 in this photo. And you all think he looks boyish now. Also, why is he sitting on his teammate’s lap?

In this next photo, The Poch and Coach Ryan are joined by none other than Coca-Cola head coach Bo Perasol!



I just love how the Maroons broke out the classic ‘90s “boxer shorts with topsiders” look. Coach Bo looks like he wants to give Jojo Lastimosa and his sexy legs a run for his money.

While the heated semifinals battle in the PBA Philippine Cup rages on, Alaska quietly made a move to bolster its frontline by plucking little-used Samigue Eman from San Miguel’s reserve list. While the center wouldn’t be able to suit up for the Aces until the next conference, the foxiness of the move wasn’t lost on basketball fans that saw the center play in the PBL, before he got injured prior to joining the PBA draft.

In Eman, Alaska gets a young center who boasts not just untapped potential, but who showed surprising athleticism and a nasty edge during his PBL days with Welcoat/Rain or Shine. Alaska team manager Joaqui Trillo compares Eman favorably with Alaska’s all-star center Sonny Thoss.

The transaction is just another in a long line of savvy moves for the Aces. While the team’s record isn’t perfect when it comes to developing players, the team’s brain trust led by Trillo and coach Tim Cone make it a point to try to find players who will fit into the team’s system. Sometimes, it doesn’t pan out – I always wondered why guys like Brixter Encarnacion, Don Camaso, and Aaron Aban didn’t mesh with the system – but more often than not, it works. It’s no coincidence that the franchise has made it to the semifinals of the all-Filipino conference 4 times in the last 5 years.

So despite not having the resources of the richer SMC teams or Talk N Text, the Aces have managed to be consistently successful. How do they do it? With trades like these:

Year	Trade	Notes
1991	Elmer Cabahug to Purefoods for Jojo Lastimosa	Cabahug had a three great seasons with Purefoods that included two All-Filipino crowns, but these were marred by salary issues. Lastimosa was the leader of the Alaska franchise for the next decade, and ended the ‘90s with 10 championships (9 with Alaska).
1994	Bong Alvarez to Sta. Lucia for Bong Hawkins	Alaska traded away troubled superstar Alvarez for Hawkins, the third member of its vaunted triangle along with Lastimosa and Johnny Abarrientos. Alvarez got into more trouble in his stint with Sta. Lucia, when he hooked up with Vivian Velez, got injured, hung out with Benjie Paras in the US, and asked for a trade to Shell to hang out with his buddy. That didn’t work out either.
1995	Bong Solomon to Ginebra for the draft pick that turned out to be Jeffrey Cariaso	After getting traded to Ginebra, the team discovered that Solomon was legally blind. He might have still been a better player than Dudut Jaworski though.
1997	Cris Bolado to Purefoods for Rodney Santos and Bryant Punzalan	While Cris Bolado won a championship for Purefoods as a lucky charm backup to Jerry Codinera, Santos (whose awful nickname ‘The Slasher’ was coined by our favorite Quinito Henson) was an integral part of Alaska’s late ‘90s championship run, usually playing point guard in Tim Cone’s big backcourt set.
1997	Dwight Lago and Boyet Fernandez to Pop Cola for Kenneth Duremdes	Alaska lost Cariaso left for Mobiline that season for a more lucrative offer, but the Milkmen stole Duremdes, then a backup to Vergel Meneses at Pop, in a late season trade. Alaska subsequently won the next three conference championships with Duremdes in its lineup.
2003	Kenneth Duremdes to Sta. Lucia for Brandon Cablay	The shocker of the 2003 draft saw Alaska trading its top gun in exchange for a draft pick. But the move gave the Aces financial flexibility to stock up on talent, while Duremdes’ massive contract became an albatross for Sta. Lucia, who didn’t win a championship until after they traded Duremdes to Coke four years later.
2005	John Arigo and Ali Peek to Coca-Cola for Jeffrey Cariaso and Reynel Hugnatan	Alaska looked like they got the short end of the stick, talent-wise, in this trade. But Cariaso’s leadership was a boon for the team’s chemistry, and Hugnatan has transformed into one of Alaska’s most important players as a frontcourt Swiss army knife for Tim Cone off the bench.
2006	Don Allado to Talk N Text for Willie Miller and John Ferriols	At the time, Talk N Text coach Derrick Pumaren justified this trade because it allowed his team to acquire Renren Ritualo. Okaay. Since the trade, Miller has been the Aces’ franchise player.
2008	Mike Cortez and Ken Bono to San Miguel for LA Tenorio and Larry Fonacier	While Mike Cortez has been a solid backup point guard for the Beermen, no one’s comparing him to Johnny Abarrientos. Meanwhile, Tenorio’s steady improvement has people gushing about him as potentially the best point guard in the league since the Flying A.

Of course, not all trades are lopsided: Johnny Abarrientos and Poch Juinio to Coca-Cola for Ali Peek and Jon Ordonio was alright for Alaska, but keyed the 2003 All-Filipino title for Coke. Its 2006 swap with San Miguel involving Brandon Cablay and Nic Belasco was a push, as neither player stayed long for either team. The 2008 trade for Mark Borboran in exchange for JR Quinahan looks pretty even, with each player contributing for his new team, as is the trade with Rain or Shine that featured Joe Devance for Sol Mercado and Eddie Laure. Still, you can’t say that Alaska got fleeced in any of these trades.

Ten years from now, when I become a billionaire and buy my own PBA team, the first rule for my team manager would be to never, ever trade with Joaqui Trillo.

After a crazy quarterfinal round, the stage is set for the PBA Philippine Cup final four. The cast features 3 teams that belong to the San Miguel Corporation, which again reinforces perceptions by the league’s critics that the PBA is an SMC league. Some even say that the PBA is set up so that SMC teams would always end up on the winning end of most tournaments.

The grand conspiracy argument doesn’t hold much water. If it were true, there’s no way Sta. Lucia would have won the 2008 Philippine Cup over Purefoods in a close seven-game series wherein James Yap was suspended for one game for the same flagrant 2 penalty called on Ranidel de Ocampo last Friday. Imagine David Stern suspending Kobe Bryant on an iffy call in an NBA finals series against a team like the Milwaukee Bucks.

That doesn’t mean to say that SMC teams do not have an advantage. The PBA landscape today gives the rich teams a leg up when it comes to acquiring talent, and each of the SMC teams have taken advantage to build up its arsenal.

By my count, Ginebra, Purefoods, and San Miguel have acquired a total of 19 players through lopsided trades over the past 5 PBA seasons. The trend started prior to the 2006-07 season, when Ginebra and San Miguel ransacked the roster of erstwhile sister team Coca-Cola just before the corporation let go of the franchise. Over the next several years, each SMC team found more willing partners in Red Bull and Air 21 who would let go of their star players for a song.

	Acquired by	From	Season	Notes
Marc Pingris	Purefoods	Air 21	2005-06	Traded to San Miguel for Enrico Villanueva in 2008, acquired back by Purefoods in 2009
Rudy Hatfield	Ginebra	Coke	2006-07	Went off the deep end after leading Ginebra to a Philippine Cup championship
Billy Mamaril	Ginebra	Coke	2006-07
Rafi Reavis	Ginebra	Coke	2006-07	Traded to Purefoods in 2009
Ronald Tubid	Ginebra	Air 21	2006-07
Lordy Tugade	San Miguel	Red Bull	2006-07
Enrico Villanueva	San Miguel	Red Bull	2007-08	Traded to Purefoods in 2008, traded to Ginebra in 2009
Larry Fonacier	San Miguel	Red Bull	2007-08	Traded to Alaska in 2008
Junthy Valenzuela	Ginebra	Red Bull	2007-08
Mick Pennisi	San Miguel	Red Bull	2008-09
Rich Alvarez	Purefoods	Red Bull	2008-09	Traded to Ginebra in 2009
Cyrus Baguio	Ginebra	Air 21/BK	2008-09
JC Intal	Ginebra	Air 21/BK	2008-09
Doug Kramer	Ginebra	Air 21/BK	2008-09
Homer Se	Ginebra	Air 21/BK	2008-09
Don Allado	Purefoods	Air 21/BK	2008-09
Celino Cruz	Purefoods	Air 21/BK	2008-09	Traded to Ginebra in 2009
KG Canaleta	Purefoods	Air 21/BK	2008-09
Arwind Santos	San Miguel	Air 21/BK	2009-10

The data does not reflect the indirect benefits of one SMC team acquiring new star players to its sister teams. For example, San Miguel benefitted when Ginebra acquired Hatfield, Mamaril, and Reavis from Coke, because it opened the door for the Beermen to trade for Ginebra’s Rommel Adducul, who had become expendable. When San Miguel acquired Villanueva, Adducul was shipped to Purefoods. Pingris found his way back to Purefoods from San Miguel this season after the arrival of Santos to the Beermen’s camp.

I also did not include in the table the first round draft picks acquired by the Beermen from Coke during the ransacking. San Miguel used the second overall pick in 2007 to draft Samigue Eman, and the third pick in the 2008 draft to trade for Jay Washington. These were non-trivial assets.

Of course, it’s not just the SMC teams doing this. Talk N Text has been just as brazen about stockpiling talent over the past several years. Another rich franchise, Coca-Cola, seems to be going in that direction.

Meanwhile, the Photokina (Red Bull/Barako Bull) and Lina (Air 21/Burger King) franchises have had no scruples about letting their players go to the highest bidders. Sta. Lucia, a franchise beset by financial difficulty, might be going down the same path. In the PBA board, only Alaska and Rain or Shine might be inclined to pursue changes to the system, and even then they are vastly outnumbered.

There hasn’t been nearly enough outrage from the fans. I tried to incite outrage when Burger King sold off Santos to San Miguel, but it was met by general apathy. The Filipino basketball fan’s mindset is rarely about playing fair, and mostly about getting an advantage at any cost. It runs true from college basketball – seriously, check out the message board discussions on high school prospects by fans of elite schools – up to the pros. Hell, think about how Smart Gilas fans wanted Japeth Aguilar on the team, at any cost, relationships be damned.

We want our teams to cut every corner to get the best players. Should it come as any surprise when they do exactly that?

The Burger King Whoppers and the Coca-Cola Tigers opened 2010 with a major trade, swapping starters Gary David and Alex Cabagnot while throwing in Chico Lanete and Wesley Gonzales into the transaction as the French fries in the value meal.

It’s an interesting trade, and on paper, should improve both teams. The Whoppers needed a point guard not named ‘Chico Lanete’ to start for them after losing Wynne Arboleda for the season, while the Tigers didn’t have anyone who can create plays at the wing position for them. David is an elite scorer and Cabagnot is a solid point guard. On the other hand, Lanete and Gonzales are serviceable members of the rotation as long as they don’t play too many minutes.

Knowing all that, I don’t how well the trade would work out for either team. As good as David is, he’s virtually allergic to passing the ball; he makes Jojo Lastimosa look like Mother Teresa on the court. When David gets his dribble stopped on the way to the basket and he’s forced to make an entry pass into the post to Beau Belga, he looks like someone who just threw up a little in the mouth. He’ll be bringing in less order to the already chaotic Coca-Cola offense.

On the bright side, the transfer of Cabagnot would free up minutes for rookie Chris Ross, the PBA draft’s third overall pick, to show what he can do. Hopefully, he’ll play better with the added minutes; otherwise, Coca-Cola will be stuck with Lanete and Marvin Cruz running their offense. Talk about a clusterfuck.

Burger King will be getting a player who puts up solid numbers with Cabagnot, who also doubles as a pretty good defender. Cabagnot is in his fifth season in the PBA, and while he’s consistently produced as a starter with Sta. Lucia and Coke, his teams have never made it to the semis throughout his career. It makes me wonder if maybe you just can’t win in the PBA when Cabagnot is your starting point guard.

Then again, I can’t imagine a better system for him to play in than Yeng Guiao’s, who will love his size and defense, and who will give him a lot of freedom to attack on offense.

Wondering if a lefty scoring point guard can emerge under Guiao’s tutelage? I have two words for you: Paolo Hubalde.