MANILA, 8 November — The search is on, and of course, the guessing game continues for what has so far been a long and heated selection process for the next commissioner of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
More names are being mixed into the muddled pot that will determine the next PBA top honcho in what could well be the hottest race seen in the 27 years of the professional league’s glorious history.
Insiders have revealed that there are at least 10 aspirants being considered for the job, a merry mix of well-known sports personalities, officials as well as “unknowns”.
PBA Chairman Butch Alejo of Purefoods refused to say who among the candidates has the inside track for the post to the post to be vacated by Jun Bernardino.
He said two virtually unknown contenders were the latest who had thrown their hats into the commissionership derby.
Bernardino will retire at the end of the year as the longest-serving commissioner of Asia’s pioneering professional basketball league.
Upon the advice of his doctors and consultations with his family, the 54-year-old Bernardino has decided to leave his post due to health problem after serving the league for 20 years — nine as commissioner.
Alejo said it will entail a long, tedious process for the board of governors to determine the final choice making the league’s ongoing search for a new commissioner one of the hottest, most urgent and at times controversial issues still unresolved.
“In my estimates, the earliest we could get it done is the end of November,” said Alejo. “And that’s the earliest already.”
The board is expected to name the new commissioner before the end of the month since planning for the 2003 season would have to be done way ahead of time.
The new commissioner will undergo apprenticeship under the outgoing commissioner.
A candidate would need six of the eight votes from the Board of Governors to clinch the post. Purefoods and Coca-Cola, now under San Miguel’s corporate umbrella, are ineligible to vote.
Among those being considered to replace Bernardino for one of the most prestigious positions in Philippine sports are long-time PBA president and executive director Sonny Barrios, former Shell representative Rey Gamboa, former Shell and Purefoods coach Chito Narvasa, former board member Elmer Yanga and lawyer-newscaster Noli Eala.
Other names now being floated are Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) top official Moying Martelino and former PBA deputy commissioner Tommy Manotoc.
But the board isn’t discounting the possibility of tapping what can be called a league outsider for the job.
The board has set the parameters that would guide them in selecting the new man to oversee the league’s affairs immediately after Bernardino formally announced his decision to step down from his post and this includes: the next PBA commissioner the league board of governors will appoint must have the qualities of his predecessors; he should be a man of integrity with a sports sense, a marketing know-how, a good public image and a desire to work for the league full-time.
In Barrios, Gamboa, Narvasa, Yanga or Eala, the new top honcho will still come from the PBA family.
Gamboa, who retired as the vice president of Shell’s corporate communications last year, served as chairman of the PBA board two years ago and has the reputation of being a hands-on man.
His name cropped up in the long list some months back, being a veteran in helping run the league together with Bernardino’s office.
Narvasa, on the other hand, called the shots for the Shell Turbo Chargers for two years before cutting short his coaching career with Purefoods.
The former Ateneo player, who’s now a banker and president of the Basketball Coaches Association of the Philippines (BCAP), is another strong candidate because of his knowledge of the game and skills in management.
The 39-year-old Eala is considered the darkhorse. A graduate of law at Ateneo, Eala is a long-time anchorman with Viva television.
On Gamboa, the concern of the board is whether he can work full-time now that he has entered into a number of business ventures after his recent retirement with Shell.
On Yanga, who now acts as consultant of the Concepcion-owned Republic Flour Mills, many said he is too amiable a person for this kind of job.
Bernardino, for his part, has openly batted for Barrios, his long-time assistant and current executive director as his successor.
He is endorsing Barrios, saying he’s the most logical choice for the job, having been connected with the Commissioner’s Office for some time and therefore fully versed with the activities of the league.
“Sonny fits the position, not to mention that he’s well-versed with the operations of the league. But just the same it’s the board’s call,” said Bernardino, who held the post since September 1982.
Barrios has been with the league for the last 18 years, serving as commissioner in an acting capacity on a number of occasions. He is currently league OIC.
He ably steered the league through turbulent times last year when Bernardino suffered a mild stroke that had the commissioner fully recovering from the ailment after four months.
Interestingly, days after Bernardino endorsed Barrios as his successor, former Commissioners Leo Prieto, Rudy Salud and Rey Marquez immediately gave Barrios their seal of approval.
“Sonny has been with the PBA for some time now, and with the help of other members of the staff, yes, I think he could do a great job,” said Prieto, the league’s founding commissioner who served from 1975 to 1982. “Of course the commissioner (Bernardino) is better qualified to make the recommendation and I believe his word carries a lot of weight. But it will be up to the board really.”
Salud insisted the choice may not be all that hard to make.
In fact, he said, the pro league need not even look far to find one.
Salud, who denied reports he was backing up the bid of a broadcaster-sports columnist, said Barrios “is the most qualified” candidate for the position.
“I’m supporting Sonny,” declared Salud, who was commissioner from 1988 to 1991 and is acknowledged to be the mentor of both Bernardino and Barrios. “He is very capable. He’s a very competent guy and I think he’ll make a good commissioner.”
His only drawback, according to Salud, is that, being a member of the Office of the Commissioner “oftentimes forced him to lock horns or be at odds with members of the board who are going to pick the new commissioner, something an outsider never had to deal with.”
“Being at the forefront of rulings and decisions that are at times adverse to the interest of some teams gives him a disadvantage because he may have stepped on some tender toes in the process. I just hope they realize that Sonny was just doing his job,” he said.
Salud said he knows that that sharp mind, managerial skills and long years of experience will serve both Barrios and the league well — if he is given the chance.
“The league and its officials have been carefully evaluating all the probables,” Salud said. “But the guy they’re looking for may be someone who has been there all the while but had not been tried out yet.”
While it was understandable for Prieto and Salud to push for Barrios, Marquez’s support came as a mild surprise.
“I would go for Sonny Barrios,” said Marquez, league commissioner in 1992-93 and a corporate kin of Gamboa, one of the aspirants. “I believe he is the natural and obvious choice.”
Marquez, Shell president at one time, said “we need continuity and an understanding of the past and present history of the league so that we could look into the future and initiate programs to lift us out of the doldrums.”
Of Gamboa, Marquez said: “I don’t know if Rey is available because he had just set up a new company and being a commissioner is a full-time job. Sonny has to be the guy. He is more than up to it.”
The three, along with Bernardino, are the league’s surviving commissioners.
The late Col. Mariano Yenko had his tour of duty from 1983 to 1987, continuing the policies formulated during the league’s inception by Prieto and then handing over a more vibrant and active PBA to Salud.
Alejo said the two mystery candidates were put forward by Head Hunter, an executive placement company which the league tapped to submit names.
He declined to name the mystery candidates, except to say that they were once involved in basketball but now hold top executive positions in the private sector.
“They also satisfy the qualifications which the board set for the position, meaning they love basketball and, having been once involved in it, they have managerial skills and possess the personality to deal with the fans, the media and the board members,” he said.
The board hopes to include two or three more names to the pool before beginning the process of pruning it down to a short list that would submit to interviews before members of the board. The voting will follow thereafter.
Alejo said he wants to see the next commissioner chosen by consensus among the the league’s member teams since the new commissioner, to be successful, must enjoy the complete trust and mandate of all the members of the board.
“I’m hoping that will happen, since that means the board will be fully behind whoever is chosen. That’s the case with Commissioner Jun Bernardino,” he said.
Alejo said the race for the post is a toss-up. “All of the board members, I think, have no definite choice. Not one name stands out and at the same time not a single board member is against one candidate. So it’s not that easy if I ask for a vote now and whoever comes out isn’t really a popular choice.
“So we’d rather go through the process, even if it will take a little longer. Anyway, there’s no urgency in picking the next commissioner. The league is running smoothly,” he said.
Still, Alejo said the board has a long way to go from tackling that issue.
“I must admit that the choice of the next commissioner will be very critical to the league, especially if it’s someone like Jun that you are replacing. If you look at these guys, the men who have served as commissioner of the league, they are all men of character,” he said. “So you just can’t put anybody there.”
But the PBA board’s concern may not only be limited on the search for a new commissioner but for the league’s future television carrier as well.
The more pressing concern, Alejo said, is the next television contractor which the board had hoped to appoint, but deferred action, from among the three remaining bidders — current TV partner Viva-Vintage, the NBN 4-IBC 13 combine and another group put together by Bobong Velez.
However, differences in terms of the protection of the payment of the TV contract kept the board from coming up with a decision, Alejo said. The board of governors said it will need a little more time to decide the pro league’s next television partner.
Velez’s group had incorporated a letter of credit in its bid while Viva-Vintage and NBN-IBC opted for performance bonds. For the sake of uniformity, the board asked Viva and NBN-IBC to submit letters of credit next week.
From among the three bids, all spread over three years, Alejo said the NBN-IBC group, reportedly led by Dante Ang and represented in the talks by former Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Philip Juico, put up the biggest bid in terms of guaranteed money.
Velez, which for years owned the broadcast rights for the league’s games, had the smallest bid but included a profit-sharing scheme in his package, Alejo said.
“But it is not only the financial aspect of the bids that we’re looking at. We’re also considering the marketing programs of the bidders, their ability to market the league and its games,” Alejo said. “At this point, I don’t think anyone has a big edge.”
Among the bidders for the TV rights, the combined efforts of NBN (4) and IBC (13) is reportedly the better one since it would provide a wider coverage of the games not just over the two mega television networks but also to 33 provincial stations reaching 94 percent of the country.
What further impressed the PBA board were the perks of the proposed NBN-IBC offer which include the use of two portable satellites for provincial games that would telecast the games from anywhere in the country, five OB (outside broadcast) vans dedicated for PBA games, the coverage over 18 radio stations nationwide, a dozen cameras at the playing venue — including slam cams, isolation cameras and slow-mo machines.
While current production outfit Viva-Vintage remains as the league’s top priority as far as its TV broadcast is concern, officials of Asia’s first play-for-pay league are not discounting as well the entry of other networks interested in carrying out the games starting next year.
“Since our contract with Viva-Vintage is expiring at the end of the year, the PBA board is very busy right now inviting prospective parties who are willing to pursue the television franchise,” said Bernardino.
Bernardino said one of his final acts in the league he has served since 1982 under different capacities is to help find a perfect TV partner.
“The process initiated by the board is now moving. In fact, they’ve met with officials of Viva-Vintage last week… it being the current TV coverer just to explore their willingness and interest to renew their rights,” said Bernardino. The TV networks also in the race to carry the PBA coverage are ABS-CBN 2 and RPN 9.
