The new development had been confirmed by Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive director Sonny Barrios.

Meaning to say, Filipino basketball fans won’t be allowed to cheer physically for Gilas Pilipinas as the team is slated to face Korea, New Zealand, and India.

“Yung sistema ngayon, dati nagpapaalam tayo sa PSC, dahil hindi naman tayo professional league, as per JAO, and then IATF. Itong hosting natin ngayon, may third entity na kailangan nating pag-paalaman which is the LGU,” SBP director Barrios said in an interview with the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum.

“Nagpaalam po tayo sa Quezon City, ang sagot ng Quezon City, okay pero wala tayo munang paying fans sa ngayon.”

For now, the answer is no but Barrios said that he is not completely closing the door for the possibility of the fans watching personally in the dome.

“Tingnan natin kasi ‘di ba, ang update nila, every 15 days. So ang umiiral ngayon ‘yung advisory covering period February 1-15,” he explained. 

“Tignan natin ‘yung development sa 16 to end of February, which will cover the qualifiers natin, kung may pag-asa. Pero sa ngayon po, wala, wala tayo.”