Fil-Am Norwood still not eligible for PBA Rookie Draft

MANILA, Philippines – There’s no doubt that Gabe Norwood will be the undisputed No. 1 pick when the Philippine Basketball Association holds its Annual Draft on August 31. Problem is, the league still doesn’t consider him a Filipino at all. Commissioner Sonny Barrios said on Sunday that Norwood has yet to submit two vital documents that will qualify him for the draft. “As of now, he is not eligible [for the rookie draft]," Barrios said. “Possessing a Philippine passport is not a be-all and end-all document that enables a player to join the draft." The PBA is requiring Norwood to submit a certificate of affirmation from the Department of Justice and a certificate from the Bureau of Immigration authenticating his Filipino roots. What Norwood presented to the PBA, however, is a “position paper" submitted by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales to Department of Foreign Affair chief Alberto Romulo last year. In that letter, Gonzales said that Norwood “can be considered a Filipino because his mother, Tiffiney Sainte Hardy, was a minor when she gave birth to the cager in Honolulu, Hawaii". “Being a minor who had no chance to select Philippine citizenship, Tiffiney has dual citizenship despite her marriage to an Afro-American," the letter stated. Because of the Gonzales document, Norwood was able to acquire a Philippine passport, and was chosen as part of the National team that played in the FIBA Asia qualifiers in Japan last year. The PBA has set a deadline of August 22 for foreign-born applicants to submit photocopies of their documents. An August 29 deadline was also marked for the submission of authenticated copies of those papers. If an applicant will not be able to present an authentic copy of their certificates, their applications are considered null. “Madali naman kasing gumawa ng [photocopies] of documents," said Barrios. “Now what we need in order to authenticate those documents are the sealed or genuine certificates." A total of 35 players have already applied for the draft set at the Market Market in Taguig late this month. The number is expected to increase once the PBA closes its doors on applicants at 12 noon tomorrow. Of the total, seven were born outside of the Philippines. If Norwood cannot comply with the requirements, it could throw the order of picks in the draft in disarray. Welcoat and Talk ’N Text, the two teams with the lowest rankings for the season, will battle it out for the No. 1 pick. The Dragons have two envelopes and the Phone Pals one in the lottery held during halftime of Game Three of the finals Sunday. According to Barrios, only two US-raised Filipinos have no problems whatsoever in their documents. They are burly guard Solomon Mercado and Kevin Dalafu. – GMANews.TV