For a moment, Negros Occidental appeared to have two teams in the secondary baseball tournament of the Western Visayas Regional Athletic Association Meet.

One was the team from Bacolod City, which recorded two quick victories in a bid to reclaim the regional Palaro title Monday. The other was the squad composed of players from the cities of Talisay and Silay, whose appeal to regain the provincial championship was upheld by the Department of Education Tuesday, thus giving them the right to represent Negros in the WVRAA.

Talisay lost the provincial Palaro title by technicality, after Bacolod lodged a protest based on the rule that players should play in a "lower meet" to be qualified to see action in the provincial meet. Area III, where Talisay belongs, did not hold an Area Meet for baseball.

But the Palaro Jury of Appeals reversed their decision, citing Bacolod's decision to protest only in the championship game, although the DepEd ground rules state that complaints may be filed before the second game of the teams subjected to the protests, Negros Occidental delegation head Eva Belicina told the DAILY STAR last night.

Belicina, the provincial schools division superintendent, said she got a declaration from Mayors Eric Saratan of Talisay and Carlo Gamban of Silay, permitting her to sign a waiver, allowing Bacolod to represent the Negros contingent in the competition. "They agreed to waive their slot because of many constraints, like uniform and lack of training. In fairness to Bacolod, they already won all their matches," said Belicina, whose waiver was received by tournament officials shortly before Negros faced Capiz yesterday afternoon.

The Bacolod clouters won against Capiz, 13-0, yesterday, assuring Negros of a championship berth.

Belicina said Talisay and Silay elevated their case to the DepEd Regional Office in Feb. 8. Victoriano Tirol, the DepEd regional director, assigned the case back to the Jury of Appeals, which received the appeal Feb. 15.

Meanwhile, the defending champion elementary boys' squad from Negros also kept its title-retention bid alive with a scary 6-5 win over Guimaras yesterday.

The win pushed the Negrenses to the finals, where they will meet the winner of the Guimaras-Iloilo match set this morning. *CPT

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