By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Commissioner and founder of the JB Amateur basketball league, Jayphet Balbacal, spearheaded a drive to help their referees and table officials amid the COVID-19 crisis.
With the suspension of games of the highly popular local league, their main referees and table officials also temporarily lost jobs, thus, Balbacal and all participating teams decided to hand-out relief goods to help them get through this crisis.
The ODM/Mighty Mouse, OJNA Crocodiles, Asialink/E&C Trucking, Team Malditos, P. Doce Medics, Pepsi Hiyang, CTG Commercial, Systemic Farm Chermicals, XYZ TOTO-TIA-TEN, and the Forever Smile Dental Clinic all joined hands to help the beneficiaries.
With the city of Iloilo under enhanced community quarantine, it was decided that all sporting events will be canceled as of the moment until the ban is lifted.
With no sports in action in Iloilo, most of the referees and table officials also lost jobs momentarily, so to give back to the people who helped shape the JB ABL, commissioner Balbacal decided to hand each of them a little present.
“Hindi lang ta pwede ka pungko, basa-basa, mati news. Ang mga referee naton kag table officials nga consistent sa every game sang JB ABL subong apektado tungod sa crisis. Dapat ta man ni sila buligan kay subong nga ti-on nabudlayan sila sa pangabuhi kay wala liga. A simple gift nga relief goods is already a big help ah. Hindi ta ni sila pag pabay-an and thank you also sa tanan nga teams who helped. Kilit-anay ta after this ah! See you sa basketball court!” Balbacal told the Daily Guardian.
