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| Abra's home debut will have to wait due to poll-related gunning incidents. MPBL (file photo) |
MANILA--A string of gunning incidents during the past few days forced Abra to give the hosting of Saturday's MPBL tripleheader to Manila.
The league initially announced that the Weavers will play the GenSan Warriors in their first home stand this season at the Andres Bernos Memorial Gymnasium in Bangued.
However, Abra team owner JB Bernos, who is also the mayor of the nearby town of La Paz, announced on Saturday, just hours before tip-off, that the team had to beg off from hosting due to the gunning incidents, which are considered election-related violence since those who got killed or injured were connected to candidates for this year's polls.
Bernos also showed the letter that he sent to MPBL commissioner Kenneth Duremdes on Wednesday, telling him not to go to Bangued for now, out of utmost safety for league officials and players.
The Stars franchise, now known as the Batang Quiapo, immediately accepted the hosting offer and moved the games to the Paco Arena.
Following the shift of the host cities, the Abra-GenSan game was moved to an earlier time and is now the second game of the triple-header being played as of posting.
Manila got another home game one week after hosting Nueva Ecija at the historic Rizal Memorial Coliseum and will play Cebu later Saturday.
The Rice Vanguards' game against the Val City Magic remained as the first game with the former prevailing, 100-84.
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