Bong Ilagan, president of one faction claiming leadership of the Billiards and Snooker Council of the Philippines (BSCP), said he was happy that there was no resistance from sending a unified billiards team to the Games, “Otherwise, we would have not won a gold and silver here.”

Dennis Orcollo defeated compatriot Warren Kiamco, 9-7, Thursday for the country’s second gold medal in the Games.

Both Orcollo and Kiamco belong to two different promoters. One is owned by Perry Mariano, owner of several nightspots in Quezon City, and the other by Visayas-based businessman Jonathan Sy. Another group is controlled by sportsman Putch Puyat whose wards include Efren “Bata” Reyes, Django Bustamante and Alex Pagulayan.

Ilagan is fighting for control of the BSCP while Sebastian Chua and Yen Makabenta are trying to regain control of the association. Ilagan is supported by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) while Chua and Makabenta are backed by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and have actually secured a court order barring Ilagan’s group to represent BSCP.

At the height of the dispute with the BSCP then solely controlled by Makabenta, all three groups – Mariano, Chua and Puyat – banded together and backed Ilagan during the contentious elections that followed.

Top players belonging to the three stables boycotted the events organized by Makabenta, including the World 9-Ball championships that were held in Manila.

Eventually, Mariano softened his stand and allowed his players to play in Makabenta’s tournament because as Ilagan explained, they also need to put food on the table.

Despite the friction, Ilagan opened the Asian Games to all groups.

"In fairness to all, nobody lifted a finger to prevent us from sending our best players here. Despite belonging to different stables, the players are a closely-knit group,” Ilagan said.

Rey Bancod, Manila Bulletin