By REYNALD MAGALLON
RJ Abarrientos cried foul after receiving death threats from a dummy account on Instagram following Barangay Ginebra’s close 108-104 loss to Meralco in Game 2 of their quarterfinals series in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Abarrientos posted on his Instagram story a series of screenshots showing several comments threatening him for his missed four-pointer that could have tied the game late in the contest.
“Grabe talaga mga tao sa social media. Talo lang sa pusta, biglang death threats gamit dummy accounts, pati pamilya dinadamay pa,” Abarrientos wrote.
“Naglalaro kami ng maayos. Trabaho namin ito, parte ng basketball ang matalo sa mga kapwa ko players, di dapat tinotolerate ang ganito,” he added.
The owner of the dummy account, who claimed to have lost P400,000 in bets after the Kings’ loss, swarmed Abarrientos and his fiancées Instagram accounts with assassination threats.
“Jejermon ka na nga bobo ka pa. Babarilin kita tandaan mo! 400K talo ko sa inyo! -5 pa kayo mga bonak tapos ikaw di mo pa kayang ipasok yang 4 points,” wrote the dummy account user.
“Bonak na Ginebra! Bobo! Babarilin kita. G*go. Ikaw walang kwenta pati crucial 4-points di mo magawa,” added another dummy account under a different name.
“Just paid someone for your head for 100K. Who’s broke here?,” added the account as it jumped from one post to another just to threaten Abarrientos and his fiancée.
The PBA, for its part, had already coordinated with Abarrientos, the Ginebra management and the National Bureau of Investigation for the steps to be taken against the threats.
“Nagka-usap na rin kami ni RJ at nagka-usap na rin kami ng management ng Ginebra. Nakita ko rin yung messages, nasa akin na kaya nakipag-coordinate na rin tayo sa NBI,” said league commissioner Willie Marcial.
“Pino-protektahan din naman natin yung mga players natin sa ganyang mga bagay,” he added.
Abarrientos had 12 points in over 33 minutes of playing time but was not enough to help Justin Brownlee, who had 36, and Scottie Thompson who finished with 21 to lift Ginebra to the semifinals.
Instead, the series is going to do-or-die Game 3 at the Ynares Center in Antipolo on Sunday, Feb. 9.
