Alvin Teng

Alvin L. Teng (born March 4, 1965 in Davao City) is a retired Filipino professional basketball player who spent 14 seasons in the PBA, mostly with the San Miguel Beermen franchise.

Collegiate career

A native of Davao, he was a latebloomer in basketball, having only started in 1983 while playing for the Rizal Memorial College in his hometown. After a year with the RMC, Alvin enrolled at the Harvardian University in Davao, where he also played for the school team. He soon made it to a selection of Davaoeños which participated in the PABL Founder's Cup. Thus was his first taste of commercial ball-playing in the Big City. While playing for the All-Stars, Alvin was spotted by Arellano team manager and then PABL president Peter Cayco, and was promptly recruited for the Flaming Arrows' bench. After enrolling in a management course in Arellano, he played for seven months with the varsity squad before closing out the 1984 season with the ITM team. Teng played for Lagerlite Beer the following year and in 1986, together with Jeffrey Graves, they were elevated to the pros by their farm team Magnolia Ice Cream in the PABL.

Professional career

Nicknamed Robocop, Teng is a bruiser who did all the dirty work and defended the paint.^[1] He was a part of star-studded San Miguel squad in the late 80’s and early 90’s where he often led the team in rebounds. He was also a gifted scorer as evident when he was traded to Pepsi in 1995. He was traded to Sunkist in 1996 and back to Pepsi (now called as Mobiline) in 1997 where he was used as a second-string power forward. He left the league to join the MBA in 1999 – playing for the Laguna Lakers and the Negros Slashers. When he returned to the PBA, he retired after his stint with the Alaska in 2002.^[2]

Personal life

Teng, with his wife Susan, has four children, namely: Alyssa, Almira, Jeric (who now plays for Rain or Shine) and DLSU King Archer Jeron.^[3]

Controversy

Teng was unceremoniously terminated by the Negros Slashers on March 16, 2001. The decision was made owing to his sub-par performance during Game 4 of the MBA Championship Series against the San Juan Knights in 2000 (he was pulled out of that game, sat on the bench, untied his shoelaces and donned his practice jersey), and for not showing up in the following game (he actually called-in sick and did not play). On July 28, 2001, he filed a complaint against the team before the Office of the Commissioner of the MBA. Subsequently, on November 6, 2001, he also filed an illegal dismissal case with the Regional Arbitration Branch No. VI of the NLRC, which the Labor Arbiter found his dismissal illegal and ordered the team to pay him Php 2,530,000 representing his unpaid salaries, separation pay and attorney's fees. When the team appealed the case to NLRC, which issued a decision on September 10, 2004 dismissing his complaint for being premature since the arbitration proceedings before the Commissioner of the MBA were still pending when he filed his complaint for illegal dismissal. He filed a motion for reconsideration, but it was denied on March 21, 2005 owing to technicality. He then filed a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals assailing the NLRC Decision reinstating with modification the Labor Arbiter’s Decision. Then, on February 22, 2012, the first division of the Supreme Court issued a decision upholding the Labor Arbiter's earlier compensation order.^[4][5]

Statistics

Correct as of 2002^[6]

Season-by-season averages

See also

• Jeron Teng
• Jeric Teng

References