GAB Chairman Abraham Mitra. | CDN File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — As numerous regional basketball leagues are expected to start their respective seasons this year, the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) have strongly reminded them to avoid accepting donations and sponsorships from political candidates.
In a statement released on Tuesday, February 22, GAB Chairman Abraham Mitra said sports leagues under their fold should abide by the law and Commission on Elections (COMELEC) orders.
“While we understand that sponsorship is important in staging sports events, particularly during this time of the pandemic, we still need to follow the law and COMELEC’s orders,” Chairman Mitra said.
To formalize this rule, GAB released a memorandum on Tuesday detailing the prohibition of accepting cash or in-kind sponsorships or donations from political candidates as it violates Section 104 of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC).
The rule will only be lifted until after the national elections on May 9.
Those included in the prohibition are professional teams, pro athletes, managers, and sports officials.
COMELEC also explained that accepting sponsorship from politicians might result in possible election offenses such as vote-selling, vote-buying, among others.
“We want to help our leagues and boxing promoters to bounce back, get good publicity, and secure large audience turnout, however, we want to remind them to avoid politicking in sports,” Mitra added.
Numerous basketball leagues are set to start this year such as the inaugural season of the Pilipinas Super League in Roxas City and the Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup.
In addition, the pro-amateur league, FilBasket is eyeing to transition to a professional league after its founder, Jai Reyes visited GAB’s office on Tuesday to meet with Mitra and GAB commissioner Eduard Trinidad. /rcg
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