SBP president Al Panlilio bared on Power and Play that they are still hoping that Clarkson and the others like Fil-German big man Christian Standhardinger and Fil-American guard Stanley Pringle will be granted eligibility to play as locals in time for the 2023 World Cup.

“We continue to press it kasi we have gotten some information from some teams na may mga passports na nakuha beyond 16 for some reason,” Panlilio said. 

“So we’re looking at other situations that can help us and aid us,” he added.

Panlilio also cited that there have been cases in which players have been permitted to play as locals by FIBA despite not getting their passports by the age of 16.

Indonesia-American Brandon Jawato was granted local status by Fiba in November last year and allowed to play for Timnas in the Manama window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

Babacar Dieng, Meho Haracic, Emir Mujkic, and Faris Avdic also got clearance to play as locals for Qatar in the same tourney despite being Bosnian-Herzegovina and Senegalese by birth.

“We have gotten some info na may passports na nakuha beyond 16 years old and we want to understand what happened there. We’re looking at other situations that might aid us,” he averred.

FIBA eligibility rules state that a player can represent a country given that he or she acquired a passport before turning 16.

The Utah Jazz guard already donned the Philippine jersey in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, where the country ended up at fifth place, but the Asian Games are not sanctioned by FIBA.

Overall, Panlilio added that the likes of Clarkson, Pringle, and Standhardinger are Filipinos who deserve to represent the country. 

“At the end of the day, these guys are Filipinos so we just continue to push our justification to FIBA,” he said.