Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 12) — The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading the bill seeking to grant Filipino citizenship to American-born basketball player Justin Brownlee.
Voting 21-0, the lawmakers in the upper chamber adopted House Bill No. 6224, which would grant the resident Barangay Ginebra import the opportunity to suit up for Gilas Pilipinas, the men’s national basketball team.
The same bill was also approved in the House of Representatives last month.
Since first arriving in the country in 2016, the 34-year-old Brownlee has been Ginebra’s reinforcement in the PBA. He helped the crowd-darling ballclub win five championships and was named Best Import of the Conference twice.
The bill will now be transmitted to the Office of the President for signing into law.
Brownlee is expected to give Gilas a boost in the frontcourt when the national squad competes in the February window of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian qualifiers. The Philippines, which currently owns a 5-3 win-loss record in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers, will host Lebanon and Jordan in that window.
