THE PBA came to the aid of Barangay Ginebra rookie RJ Abarrientos amidst the alarming death threats he received and his family shortly after the Kings lost to the Meralco Bolts in Game 2 of their Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals.
Commissioner Willie Marcial said the league had already coordinated with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to probe the successive messages left by netizens on Abarrientos and his partner’s social media account, threatening to gun them down after claiming lost a considerable amount of money on bets following Ginebra’s 108-104 loss Friday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
“Kino-ordinate na natin ito sa proper authority, in this case sa NBI. Kinausap na nila si RJ tungkol dito,” said Marcial on Saturday.
“Pino-protektahan din naman natin yung mga player natin sa ganyang mga bagay.”
Abarrientos began to receive the death threats just minutes after Meralco sent its best-of-three series against Barangay Ginebra to sudden death as the rookie guard missed a four-point shot in the Kings’ final play that could have sent the game into overtime.
He finished with 12 points, three assists, and two steals.
However, shortly after, Abarrientos’ social media account began receiving threats from two netizens apparently using dummy accounts.
The 25-year-old guard, who was selected by the Kings as the no. 3 overall pick in the Season 49 draft, later posted about the psychological burden of dealing with the matter, adding a screenshot of the messages sent to him below.
“Grabe talaga mga tao sa social media. Talo lang sa pusta, biglang death threats, pati pamilya dinadamay pa. Paki-report! Nakakaalarma na yung ganitong ugali,” Abarrientos said on his Instagram story.
According to Marcial, Abarrientos was alarmed by the situation and told Barangay Ginebra management about it.
“Nagka-usap kami ng management ng Ginebra. And nagka-usap rin kami ni RJ,” he said.
“Nabasa ko na yung messages. Nasa akin na, kaya nakipag-coordinate na rin tayo sa NBI.”
The PBA expects the investigation to roll on anytime now.
