This was the statement made by POC spokesperson Joey Romasanta yesterday after reports swirled in the sports community that basketball — the country’s No. 1 spectator sport — won’t be included in the Nov. 27 to Dec. 5 biennial games.

"We haven’t received any official communication from the Fiba (regarding this matter)," said Romasanta.

"It’s still a guessing game (at this point)," said Romasanta, who bared that the final decision would probably be known when Fiba secretary general Patrick Baumann returns from a vacation on Oct. 24.

Before Baumann went on leave, POC president Jose "Peping" Cojuangco, POC chairman Robert Aventajado and legal counsel Ding Tanjuatco met with Baumann at the Fiba headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, where the two parties discussed the status of the Philippines.

The Fiba put the Philippines under suspension a few months back as a result of the rift between the POC and the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP), which the Fiba continues to recognize.

Upon their arrival from Switzerland, the POC officials announced that if the Philippines can come up with a new federation for basketball at the soonest possible time, the Fiba would recognize it and basketball will thus be included in the nine-day games.

But the Fiba issued a clarification and declared that there’s not enough time for the Philippines to create a new basketball group that will be recognized by the governing body since it will take time before a country is reinstated back into the fold.

While the Philippines has until March 31, 2006 to form a new body under the MOA the two parties signed, it doesn’t follow that in the event a new one is put up before the deadline, the Fiba won’t expedite its application for recognition.

The Fiba said that whether recognition will be given back will be known between April 2006 to August 2006, just before the World Championships are held in Saitama, Japan.