Considering what he calls a "weak" position, Global Port owner Mikee Romero insists he still got top value in the trades that saw him let go of former top rookie pick JVee Casio and Sean Anthony. Jerome AscanoFACTS: The question was thrown Romero’s way in the middle of a wide-ranging interview. The businessman-sportsman leaned back on his chair, let out a laugh and quickly brushed off a rumor that had been festering in the pro league for some time now.
“How I wish (totoo),” Romero told Spin.ph, the smile never leaving his face, “para may kasama ako sa pagbayad sa team.”
Romero went on to address the issue squarely. He admitted that Ang, the San Miguel Corp. top honcho who has engineered the diversification of the giant food conglomerate’s business, is a major partner in one of Global Port’s many ventures in North Harbor in Manila.
But Romero insisted that the partnership ends there, and certainly doesn’t extend to Global Port’s PBA team.
That, of course, was contrary to the stories coming out of the rumor mill before and after Romero’s acquisition of the Powerade franchise for a reported P100 million from Coca-Cola Phils., a company that was once part of the San Miguel conglomerate until it was bought back by its mother firm.
When San Miguel made Coca-Cola’s PBA team a part of the sale, the agreement contained a clause that gave SMC a right of first refusal in the event Coca-Cola decides to sell the PBA franchise.
For so long, Coca-Cola’s franchise had faced accusations of being a ‘silent member’ of the SMC group. When two more deals saw former Powerade players traded to San Miguel teams after Global Port’s acquisition of the franchise, Romero’s reign was tainted with the same suspicion.
Romero declined to go into details, at least on record, on the two deals that saw Powerade’s Sean Anthony land at San Mig Coffee (formerly B-Meg) and Jvee Casio end up at Alaska in a separate trade that brought LA Tenorio to Ginebra San Miguel.
But considering the “weak” position he was in, Romero insisted he got top value in the two trades – former MVP Willie Miller in the Casio deal and, in exchange for Anthony, a first-round draft pick which Romero used to pick former D-League MVP Vic Manuel.
“Ngayon kung meron pa silang makitang one-sided deal after this…” Romero said.
Romero said he was aware of all the talk about him “fronting” for Ang in the acquisition of the Powerade franchise but opted to keep silent, confident that the suspicions and allegations will go away once his Batang Pier team starts playing in the pro league.
“Maingay yan kasi hindi pa nagsisimula yung season e. Pero pag tinalo namin ‘yung Ginebra, pag tinalo namin yung San Mig, mabubura rin ‘yan,” Romero vowed.
SOURCE: http://www.spin.ph/sports/basketball/rumor-or-fact/mikee-denies-dummy-claim
No comments:
Post a Comment