The Complexities in the Ruling Regarding Foreigners Holding Head Coaching Positions

If you notice, the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings have Tim Cone as their head coach while the Meralco Bolts are being coached by Norman Black. Meanwhile, Bong Ravena is the head coach of the Talk N Text KaTropa but it's their active consultant, Mark Dickel, who is calling the shots for the KaTropa and incidentally, Dickel is also serving as the interim head coach of Gilas Pilipinas that played in Indonesia as part of the first window of the 2021 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Cup qualifiers last February. Just to straighten it out: Black and Cone, owners of combined 33 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) championships as coaches including combined three Grand Slams are serving as head coaches in the PBA despite them being Americans while Dickel who steered TNT to a finals appearance last year, is only serving as a team consultant. Why?

It's simple: Both Norman Black and Tim Cone have been married to Filipinas and have long acquired status as permanent residents of the country which exempts them from the Court of Appeals (CA) ruling that the Basketball Coaches Association of the Philippines (BCAP) scored in 2002 which prohibits foreign coaches from being named as head coaches in the PBA and that, it even cited a section of the Labor Code that specifies that working permit can only be given to foreigners upon the determination of the non-availability of a person in the Philippines who is "competent, able, and willing at the time of application" to perform the services for which the foreigner is desired. Basically, this section of the Labor Code is saying that a foreign coach can only be given the permission to be named as head coach in the PBA if there's no other Filipino coach who is competent, able, and willing at the time of application to perform as head coach in the league. And while Dickel can simply acquire a working permit from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) so that he could assume the title as head coach of TNT but due to the ruling of the CA, Dickel cannot do so and that left TNT no choice but to put Dickel as an active consultant as that isn't under the jurisdiction of the BCAP. 

But as they say, "There is always an exception to the rules" and even though BCAP has been strongly opposing the appointment of foreign coaches not just in the PBA but also in the collegiate level, One exception that the BCAP made is that it won't oppose the appointment of foreigners who are equi[ed with enough experience and knowledge that these foreigners can pass on to the local coaches through a set-up which they call a "transfer of technology". 

To simplify the complexities of the CA ruling, a foreigner cannot be named as head coach in the PBA as long as there is an availability of Filipino coaches who are "competent, able, and willing at the time of application" to call the shots. Then again, one cannot deny that foreign coaches have contributed to the overall improvement of Philippine basketball. 

Photo is from FASTBREAK.com.ph