Various players and coaches of the San Miguel Beermen (SMB) have been fined due to their interaction with the ‘Spider-Man’ chaos that erupted during Game Five of the recently concluded 2019 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup best-of-seven finals series.
PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial announced last Wednesday, May 22 that Beermen’s Ronald Tubid and Kelly Nabong will be unable to play for SMB in their first three games of the Commissioner’s Cup, while they also have to pay a P75,000 fine. The team’s assistant managers Daniel Henares and Dr. Ramon Ibanez were also suspended for two games and fined P50,000.
The incident refers to last May 10, where netizen Paolo Felizarta was dressed in full Spider-Man costume and ran onto the middle of the court at the Smart Araneta Coliseum with 3:08 minutes left in the final quarter. During Felizarta’s interruption, he collided into big man June Mar Fajardo.
Immediately, footage of Tubid walking off-court to sneak a punch on the intruder as he was being escorted out of the Big Dome by security surfaced. Nabong was also seen hitting another man, Flemn John Lola, believed to be Felizarta’s accomplice. The involvement of the two team assistant managers is unclear.
When attempting to explain the reasoning behind his actions after the game, Felizarta told the media, “I just want us to love each other. That’s it. It’s not my intention to hurt anyone,” adding that “this is the only chance for us to get things right” in anticipation of the elections. Felizarta ended up serving numerous nights at QCPD’s Station 7 prison before posting bail.
The Beermen went on to beat the Magnolia Hotshots in that crucial face-off before finalizing the championship during Game Seven. They will be opening their Commissioner’s Cup season on June 5 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum against Northport Batang Pier.