This has been addressed and talked about a little bit on the U21 NT forums. This is what the manager had to say when Australia's U21 NT manager sort of poked fun at him:
the "correct thing" is what me and my community choose to do for our NT.
I apologise if it doesn't coincide with what yours wants, but it was a choice that my country men and I elected to go with.
I am not, however, sorry for whatever -funny going ons- you perceive, I assure you Australia had nothing to do with our discussions or decision. Nor am I apologising for our choice of tactics, they were ours to choose and decide.
Like I said, good luck in your coming games.
Cheers.
Then when I said I was curious as to why they did not play CT, this was his reply:
Like I said, it was not a choice we made to affect Australia at all. And while it is regrettable that it did, I stand by our community's right to decide what enthu to use for a game.
We did not throw the game by sending scrubs - which would have been the obvious choice if we wanted to cheat Australia and conspire to push the Philippines to the top. Truth is, it never crossed our minds that the top standings for the teams would be affected.
As to the reasoning behind it, I do not feel compelled to answer anyone. Firstly, it would reveal the Philippines' enthu and secondly, it was our team's and community's choice to make in the first place.
He claims that they were not trying to throw the game, nor did they even think about other teams that may be effected, but it is certainly a strange way to end their season.
Murray/Harris/MPJ/Grant/Jokic - 2020 NBA Champs