PBA board approves Air21 name change

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Board of Governors Tuesday finally gave its go signal for Air21 to change its name to Burger King starting next conference without any amount of transfer fee involved. PBA board chairman Joaqui Trillo said that everything Air21 presented as documents proving that Burger King is a subsidiary of the Airfreight 2100 holding company met its purpose. “The documents that Burger King submitted were in order after they were reviewed by our legal department (Atty. Melvin Mendoza)," said Trillo. “They complied with the requirements and it’s all that we wanted. Burger King is owned by the Lina family, which is why they don’t need to pay a transfer fee. There was no transfer of ownership involved. Lito Alvarez, team manager of Burger King, was just relieved that the issue is all over. “We expected this from the very start and we’re happy that the board finally accepted our change in name," he said. “The documents showed proof that the owners of Airfreight 2100 and Burger King are the same holding company, which is Lina Corporate Services." The Linas have a 60 percent stake in Burger King, with telecommunications tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan, team owner of Talk ‘N Text, allegedly having a 13 percent share. Now, are Burger King and Talk ‘N Text considered sister teams? As far as PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios is concerned, they are not. But they will not be allowed to directly trade players with each other. Barrios said that Alvarez “voluntarily made a representation" that Burger King will never deal in player-swapping or in any kind of sort with the Tropang Texters. “Mr. Alvarez made a voluntary representation that they will not deal directly with Talk ‘N Text," said Barrios. “It was an offer Air21 made when it formally presented its desire to change its name to Burger King some two weeks back." – GMANews.TV