BY WAYLON GALVEZ
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) has provided financial assistance to referees nationwide following the lockdown of government due to coronavirus outbreak.
SBP executive director Sonny Barrios said in Tuesday’s PSA Forum online that assistance to displaced referees were distributed from the 16 identified regions of the federation.
“We gave them assistance, or what we call ‘ayuda’ to our referees, and even our table officials affected by the lockdown,” said Barrios during the session with SBP operations chief Butch Antonio.
An amount of P150, 000 were allotted to each of the 16 regions, and the SBP appointed three officials that handled the disbursement of funds – Gil Cortez for Luzon, Rico Navarro for Visayas and Pong Dacoco for Mindanao.
Because of the lockdown, basketball tournaments nationwide, including in the collegiate level, were canceled in hopes to lessen the spread of COVID-19, and this measure affected the earnings of game officials.
Antonio also said that online lessons through Webinar would be available for referees since FIBA, the world body for basketball, instituted new rules and this should be discussed.
“There are changes and we need to inform our referees about this, the they’ll likewise talk to our national team coaches,” said Antonio, a former team manager of Gilas Pilipinas.