The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill filed by Deputy Speaker Roberto Puno seeking to grant Filipino citizenship to Brookyn Nets player Andray Blatche.

Puno, the acting chairman of the National Unity Party (NUP), filed the measure naturalizing the 6’11 Blatche  to reinforce the lineup  of the Philippine national team that will play in the FIBA Basketball World Cup to be held in Spain from Aug. 30 to Sept. 14 this year.

Senator Sonny Angara has filed a similar bill in the Senate, which is expected to act on it when Congress resumes session on May 5.

Puno said that with naturalization being the “new paradigm of international basketball,” the Philippines should adopt the practice done by other countries to fortify its chances in the upcoming FIBA competition.

He noted that when the Philippines’ Gilas Pilipinas squad bagged the silver medal in last year’s FIBA Asia World Championship, it beat such teams as Jordan, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Qatar, Kazakhstan, and Korea, which have all taken advantage of the FIBA rule allowing one naturalized player to play in the tournament. 

The country’s silver medal finish earned for it a coveted slot in this year’s FIBA World Cup, where only 24 teams qualified.

In the FIBA World Cup, the Philippines will likely face  Croatia, Puerto Rico, Senegal and Greece, which all have naturalized players, in order to advance to the next round, Puno noted.

“We are ranked 34th and yet we have entered the World Cup as one of the top 24 teams of the world. Let us to continue this trend of overachievement by not squandering the opportunity we have worked so hard to get. Let’s give our all and do all we can to field the strongest team possible within the rules allowed by FIBA,” Puno, who represents the first district of Antipolo,  said in urging Congress to approve the measure.

Puno was also behind the effort in 2011 to naturalize Marcus Douthit, who played for the Gilas Pilipinas team. Douthit contributing immensely to the team’s success in the FIBA Asia Championship in 2013.

To allow Blatche to play under the Philippine flag in the World Cup, Congress should have approved the measure and the President should have signed or allowed it to lapse into law a month before July 30, the deadline for the submission of the  final list of the country’s pool of players to FIBA.