Basketball Association of the Philippines president Joey Lina is the "troublemaker" in Philippine basketball, Rep. Monico Puentevella said yesterday when Lina still refused to cooperate with the Philippine Olympic Committee in getting the RP basketball squad to see action in international competitions.

Puentevella, who is the first vice-president of the POC, told the DAILY STAR that Lina will most likely not cooperate with the country's Olympic group because he always wants to be the head of an organization, which will not happen once he joins the new basketball body.

Lina, earlier, had quit the original group of five stakeholders tasked by the international basketball federation or FIBA to form a new cage body after BAP was stricken off by the POC from its roster.

The Philippine Basketball Association, Philippine Basketball League, UAAP and NCAA had earlier backed the formation of Pilipinas Basketball to replace BAP.

The POC's decision to expel the country's basketball body paved the way for the ineligibility of the RP cagers to compete in international tournaments, including the 2005 Southeast Asian Games where basketball was scrapped, because FIBA only recognized BAP as the official basketball group of the Philippines.

FIBA has tasked POC, headed by president Jose "Peping" Cojuangco, to present the structure of the new basketball body that will be composed of five stakeholders to the international group for approval late this month.

Puentevella said Lina is jeopardizing the chances of the country's Olympic committee's proposal of Pilipinas Basketball to be approved by the FIBA because he does not want to cooperate.

The fate of the RP basketball team in joining international tournaments, including the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar in December, depends on the approval by FIBA of the structure of the new cage body late this month. *CIT

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