No other sister team, please

Half of the members in the PBA are already composed of sister teams. Two groups have three teams apiece that independent teams were having a difficult time winning a championship. San Miguel Corp., with Ramon S. Ang, having the controlling shares, has San Miguel Beer, Barangay Ginebra and Magnolia Chicken on its stable.

Manuel V. Pangilinan, a telecommunications tycoon, also has three teams being bankrolled — Talk ’N Text, Meralco and NLEX.

This leaves the other half of the cast as the only independent squads.

It came as a big sigh of relief when Phoenix’s planned acquisition of Kia didn’t push through. A statement was issued by Phoenix Petroleum on the Philippine Stock Exchange squelched early reports that the growing petroleum company is about to take over Columbian Autocars, distributor of Kia in the Philippines.

Had the deal got consummated, the PBA will have another version of sister teams in play, one that could change the landscape of a league that has been already embroiled with a series of controversies, including the most crucial one — losing a PBA Commissioner.

Sources from Phoenix, on the condition of anonymity, told BusinessWorld that there were plans on acquiring Kia, but the deal didn’t push through.

“We’ve been trying that even before the PBA Rookie Draft started. Had the deal push through, we would have already secured the rights on (Christian) Standhardinger,” said one of the sources.

Another source disclosed that Phoenix made a series of due diligence before deciding not to push through with the deal. Such incidents happened in the past as we saw companies, which already agreed in principle, backing out at the last minute.

The Campos Group, which owns Century Tuna, was supposed to take over Purefoods, but backed out at the last minute after making its due diligence.

A potential partnership between Mikee Romero and Harbour Centre and Manuel V. Pangilinan was also quashed at the last minute.

For now, Phoenix Fuel has maintained its independence and that’s good news for the PBA.

The PBA is on its survival phase and seeing new teams owning multiple franchises isn’t healthy anymore for the league.