The Philippine Basketball Association’s board of governors seems to be flip-flopping in the very process it came up with in selecting the next league commissioner.

We say that because the body seems to be at a loss as far as its decisions are concerned, first naming six candidates, which it described as its “short list” from where the new man at the helm will come from.

Jay Adalem, Vince Hizon, Danny Seigle, Charlie Cuna, Rickie Santos and American Mark Fischer were named to that short list, which the board said it will prune down to three during an April 16 special meeting.

On Thursday, after representatives of the team owners met, the board announced the names making up the “shorter list.”

They are: Santos, Adalem and Hizon and added Chito Narvasa to the pool.

Narvasa wasn’t even included in the first list, although he was one of 18 interviewed by a headhunting firm before reportedly begging off at the last minute when the first short list was to be announced.

This corner has nothing against Narvasa.

Narvasa has been around basketball for so long that he knows the ins and outs of the sport. He played collegiate ball with Ateneo in the NCAA, was coach of Shell and Purefoods before, and definitely knows the PBA brand of play.

What puzzles this corner is that why was he excluded in the first announcement and later on included in the next?

The board is giving the public the wrong notion here.

The board, through chairman Patrick Gregorio of PLDT, tried very hard to defend the inclusion of Narvasa by saying that he was part of the original pool of candidates interviewed by the headhunting firm.

Nothing wrong with that, he deserves to be a candidate and he also deserves to win the post.

But the announcement done last April 8 with him not in the list leaves a bad taste in the mouth and the manner in which Fischer was stricken off the list also leaves a lot to be desired.

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Gregorio said that Fischer was taken out of the pool of candidates because he was “over-qualified.”

Fischer, who served more than a decade as the Asia-Pacific head of the National Basketball Association and is currently a consultant of the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the region, was said to be very interested in the job, also according to Gregorio.

If Fischer was so interested, why strike him off for being overqualified?

Fischer, who graduated from Harvard and played professional ball in Taiwan before going corporate with the NBA, among other jobs, could certainly give the PBA a new look whatever his approach may be.

Not being familiar with Asia’s pioneering pro league would have been the best weapon of Fischer in running the affairs of the PBA.

And wouldn’t an overqualified Fischer — who is very willing to work here, according to the board — be the perfect successor to Chito Salud, the outgoing commissioner who accepted the post of president and CEO starting next season?

Like we have said before, the PBA and its board need not go to great lengths to find the next commissioner had they had a succession plan in place.

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The board also was very successful in keeping the names of the candidates a secret to the media when it wanted to.

It appointed Global Executive Solutions to find people suited to be candidates and to the credit of the headhunting firm, no names were leaked to the media.

They did a good job there.

So here now comes the board, making an announcement that it will announce the short list of candidates last April 8 after a special board meeting preceding the 40th Anniversary Celebration at Resorts World Manila.

The board made the announcement a day after that, making an effort to explain the process to which the six were selected and making the president of the headhunting firm talk to the media.

My point here is that: why make the announcement in the first place, for transparency?

Transparency for what? The public deserves to know what is happening, yes. But the public also deserves not to be duped.

If the board can keep the names of the 18 original candidates a secret, why come out to announce six names and later on include another one not included in the first short list.

The board would have been better off making no other announcement other than the final name and then explaining its choice in the end.

That way, there wouldn’t be speculations.