MANILA, 11 August 2007 — From the hardcourt, the silver screen and later on in the political arena, Freddie Webb will find himself in the limelight once again.

Webb will be named the Officer-In-Charge of the Philippine Basketball Association on Monday after beating out four other worthy candidates, according to two board members who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The 62-year-old, a former PBA star with Yco who retired at the prime of his career in the late 1970s, will be endorsed by the executive committee to the board of governors after a lengthy deliberation yesterday at noon.

Chairman Ricky Vargas refused to confirm or deny that Webb has been selected over Sonny Barrios, Ed Cordero, Fritz Gaston and Lambert Ramos, saying that he still needed to justify the ex-com’s choice to the board before speaking.

“Please allow me to not divulge it (ex-com’s decision),” Vargas asked Arab News. “I would still have to justify (the choice) to the board so that when the time (Monday meeting) comes, we will have a consensus already.

“I’m actually calling each of them (board members) now.” Vargas, the Talk ‘N Text representative, Red Bull’s Tony Chua, who will assume chairmanship when the next season opens on Sept. 23, Alaska’s Joaqui Trillo and Air21’s Lito Alvarez make up the executive committee.

They deliberated from morning till noon yesterday, discussing among themselves who the OIC will be.

They arrived unanimously to endorse Webb, a former Senator whom one source described as highly “independent.”

“We came up with a set of criteria and Mr. Webb fits the bill perfectly,” the first Arab News source said. “We like how independent he is and how firm he is with his decisions.”

That source went as far as talking about the problem the Webb family had with Freddie’s son Hubert, who is serving a life sentence because of the highly-publicized Vizconde massacre many years back.

Members of the board will convene on Monday, and Vargas hopes that by that time, “the gentlemen of the board would have a consensus already.”

“The way he handled himself during those dark times, when he didn’t use his status as a senator tells us a lot of how good a man Mr. Webb is,” the source added.

“That is the stability and independence that the league needs in a leader.” While Webb is not assured that he will be the eventual commissioner, he definitely has the inside track, having a full conference to work with to show what he can truly do for the league.

“Based on informal discussions with other members of the board, he (Webb) has the numbers,” said the other source in a text message.

“The full board will only meet and decide by Monday.”

Webb’s first function would be to oversee the Draft set for Aug. 19 at the Market! Market! in Taguig.

There are several high-profile amateurs in the pool, including former UAAP MVP Ken Bono, 6-foot-9 Mindanao native Samigue Eman and high-flying JC Intal.

The board, incidentally, will choose its next commissioner from a long list that includes the five OIC candidates. Some prominent names mentioned in earlier reports are Tommy Manotoc, Chot Reyes, Chito Salud, Bert Manlapit and Sonny Jaworski.

There are reports that the board would even widen the base since having an OIC would give it more than enough time to hire the man it truly wants.