John Amores has personally apologized to the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde team 11 days after the incident during his Jose Rizal University team's game against the Blazers last November 8.
Benilde head coach Charles Tiu shared that Amores first reached out to his former teammate and current Blazer Carlos Sumabat, who then served as bridge between Amores and Tiu.
The second-year tactician said he invited Amores to visit their practice on Saturday, where the former Heavy Bomber personally asked for forgiveness from the Taft crew.
"So we spoke on Thursday and I invited him lang to practice if he wanted to apologize and he did. We're happy that he did that, it takes a lot of humility for him to accept his mistakes and to come up in front of the whole team to just say sorry," Tiu said on the heels of their 83-73 win over Arellano University on Sunday.
"It's not easy. The parents of Jimboy Pasturan turned out to be there also so at least kahit na medyo masama pa rin loob nila, nakapag-apologize si John."
Tiu lauded Amores for the courage to face the Blazers in the wake of his outburst that resulted in JRU to remove him from its sports program while also getting slapped with an indefinite suspension by the NCAA.
He also wished Amores the best of luck, even hoping that the incident does not mean a permanent end to the player's basketball career.
"It's a step towards the right direction for him, he said he wants to have a fresh start. And kami naman, we told him that we will try to help him in anyway that we can," he added.
"We wish him the best. We hope that one day he can revive his career somehow and I hope another team gives him a chance."
But even with Amores expressing his apologies, Tiu clarified that the players who got hurt will still continue with the cases they filed against Amores. Taine Davis and Jimboy Pasturan, both of whom got punched by Amores, had previously filed a physical injuries complaint against the latter.
"I believe so, as of now. Nice thing about John, he's accepting naman whatever consequences. He didn't really ask or beg sila Jimboy to throw away the case and I said, that's really up to the families and the players."
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
