The Senate approved on the third and final reading Committee Report No. 27 on House Bill No. 4084, sponsored by Senator Sonny Angara, with 20 affirmative votes, zero negative votes, and zero abstention.
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes welcomed the news, tweeting: "Blatche bill approved on third reading with affirmative vote of 20-0. Thank you Senate! Thank you Congress!"
The 6-foot-11 Blatche was the 49th overall pick by the Washington Wizards in the 2005 NBA Rookie Draft. He currently plays for the Nets, and averaged 11.2 points and 5.3 rebounds per game this year. He has career averages of 10.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
The House of Representatives approved Blatche's application last month. Blatche’s papers will now be transmitted to the Office of the President for the chief executive's signing.
"Blatche has openly expressed his desire to play for the Philippines," said Angara. "He is in a position, at age 28, to make significant contributions to Philippine basketball and accordingly, eligible for the conferment of the honor of being a Philippine citizen."
"Blatche is possibly the best center from the NBA that we can get who is willing to shun more lucrative offers now and in the future just to be part of our national team," he added.
Blatche, according to a report by Joaquin Henson of The Philippine Star, has also submitted a sworn affidavit reaffirming his commitment to Gilas Pilipinas.
"It would be very intriguing to learn how to communicate with the (Filipino) language. However, my focus will be on playing basketball and interacting with my teammates and the fans of the Philippines," Blatche said in his sworn statement.
"I want to play for Gilas Pilipinas as I saw them last year, when they qualified for the World Cup due to placing in the Asian Championship FIBA Games," he added. "It is exciting for me to have the opportunity to be able to participate in my offseason."
Blatche is not the first foreign player to be granted Philippine citizenship. Americans Chip Engelland, Jeff Moore, and Dennis Still were naturalized in the 1980s to help the Philippines win the Asian Basketball Confederation title in 1985.
More recently, Marcus Douthit was naturalized in 2011 and played a huge role in Gilas' silver-medal finish in the FIBA Asia Championship last year.
"We took a leap of faith when we naturalized Marcus Douthit, and that leap of faith paid dividends. We are hoping this would be a similar case with Andray Blatche," said Angara.
Angara also dismissed concerns that having naturalized players in the national team will be detrimental to local players.
"Since our local players will be playing against bona fide professional NBA players, they will be forced to improve," Angara pointed out. "It's like we're putting them in a competitive atmosphere. Great players make other players better."
The Philippines is drawn into Group B in the FIBA World Cup, along with Senegal, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Greece, and Croatia.
The FIBA World Cup will be held from August 30 to September 14 in Spain, with six venues in six host cities.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
