By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The naturalization of Gilas-aspirant Angelo Kouame and PH Azkals soon-to-be reinforcement Bienvenido Marañon were just approved by the House of Representatives on the third and final reading.
House Bill no. 8632 (Kouame) and House Bill no. 8631 (Marañon) have been unanimously accepted by the House of Representatives with the voting count of 210-0 (Kouame), and 206-0 (Marañon).
The next step is to get majority votes in the Senate to finalize their naturalization.
It has been nearly a year since Rep. Robbi Puno, also the vice-chairman of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), began the process regarding Kouame’s naturalization.
“At the age of 23, Kouame is now poised to become the youngest naturalized Gilas player ever, which gives us a good eight to 10 years with him in the national team,” said Puno.
Puno was also the brains behind Marcus Douthit and Andray Blatche’s naturalization years before with both foreigners rendering their services to Gilas Pilipinas.
On the other hand, Marañon has expressed his long-time desire in playing for the Azkals while considering settling down in the PH.
Marañon also expressed that he began to love the country following his Philippines Football League (PFL) stints with the Ceres-Negros FC (now United City FC) and would love to become an official part of the PH roster.
