MANILA, Philippines — Blackwater team owner Dioceldo Sy is giving his all-out support to two-time PBA Most Valuable Player James Yap, who is seeking for re-election as councilor for San Juan City’s first district in the May 2025 mid-term elections.
The amiable Bossing big boss said the 42-year-old is currently in a leave of absence and won’t be part of Blackwater’s upcoming Commissioner’s Cup campaign, which begins on November 27.
“He wants to focus first on his re-election bid as councilor in San Juan,” Sy told the Manila Times, who expects the seven-time PBA champion to rejoin Blackwater in the season-ending PBA All-Filipino Cup instead.
The 6-foot-2 Yap, the second overall pick in the PBA Rookie Draft in 2004, failed to see action for Blackwater in the Governors’ Cup due to a hand injury.
Sy said Yap’s contract with the Bossing is till February 2025 and they will just have to wait and see how things will pan out from there for the former long-time face of the Purefoods franchise.
The Bossing got off to a 0-3 start, but the arrival of import replacement George King turned things around for Blackwater, falling just one win short of snaring a playoff spot. Blackwater closed the eliminations with a 5-5 record and got edged out by NLEX for the fourth and last playoff spot in Group B.
Yap last played for Blackwater in last season’s Philippine Cup. In six games, the former Escalante, Negros Occidental native averaged 3.7 points and 1.3 rebounds in 8.8 minutes of action.
