Part of the glass shattered by the rock-throwing incident in Tuburan town after a Governor’s Cup basketball game. | contributed photo
Cebu City, Philippines —The head coach of Alegria’s basketball squad that is competing in the 2019 Governor’s Cup basketball tournament admitted that he and his players are shaken up by the incident that saw their vehicle get stoned as it was making its way out of Tuburan after their game on Wedensday night, April 10, 2019.
Kareem Alocillo shared that they were already on their way home when the driver saw that there were coconuts and rocks placed in the middle of the road.
The driver slowed the vehicle down and that’s when the stoning started, which eventually shattered the driver’s-side window.
Read more: Rocks thrown at vehicles containing tournament officials, players of Governor’s Cup basketball
Alocillo said the driver did not get hurt because the stone got slowed down by the vehicle’s curtains, which they had already opened up after they were warned beforehand.
“Our driver sa Suroy-Suroy sa Sugbo got hit pero good thing all of our cutains kay gi bukhad namo kay naa naman hint gihatag si coach Van (Parmis) nga naa mangbato. If wala pa siguro ang curtain sa driver’s side, maigo jud to sa iyang nawng. Ang bato was as big as our fist.”
“Our concern is the safety of the visiting teams. To be honest, we were scared!” said Alocillo, the son of one of Cebu’s most-respected coaches, former University of Southern Philippines Foundation Panthers head coach Albert Alocillo.
Asked if the incident was related to anything that happened during the game — a huge 98-75 win for the hometown Tuburan — Alocillo said nothing untoward happened.
“We lost the game by 20 points, it was a peaceful game though. Nothing happened,” said Alocillo.
Alocillo asserted that in spite of the incident, Tuburan was a good host.
“This incident doesn’t define all the Tuburanhon, they were a great host. Maybe naa lang jud mga tao nga nag tripping or maybe they’re on drugs or drunk. Good thing our provincial government has programs like this to keep our youths away from it.” /bmjo