Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) chairman emeritus Manny V. apologized for the vicious campaign in Gilas Philippines during the 2019 Fiba Basketball World Cup in China.
However, Pangilinan is hopeful that Gilas Philippines will present a good campaign in 2023 where the Philippines is one of the hosts along with Indonesia and Japan.
Pangilinan said that if there was any blame for the incident in Gilas Philippines, the SBP would be no different.
"[All] I can say is that we are really sorry and we would like to really express our apologies to the Filipino people, because we are there," Pangilinan reported on Spin.ph.
Gilas Pilipinas ranks second in the World Cup where it has not scored in five games.
“SBP is part of that program, it's part of the decisions, the formation, and performance of the team. I think it's our duty to apologize to our people for that performance, ”Pangilinan added.
As the co-host of the 2023 edition of the World Cup, the Philippines will no longer have to qualify for the qualifying tournament because it already has a secure place in every four years of competition.
However, Pangilinan noted that they did not want to step in and even earlier, Pangilinan wants them to start preparations for the competition.