Waylon Galvez, Mark Balmores (Photo)
With the pro league’s obligation to amateur basketball, the candidates for the Philippine Basketball Association commissionership expressed strong support in forming a better national team that will seek a berth for the 2012 London Olympics.
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Renren Ritualo of Talk 'N Text, Dondon
Hontiveros and Danny Ildefonso of Magnolia | | The PBA, one of the stakeholders of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), is the one tasked to form a team for elite international meets like the Olympics.
"If I’ll have my way, I’ll form the team right now. Not next year or two years from now, but right now to give us more time to prepare," said Chito Salud, son of former league commissioner Rudy.
Aside from Salud, the other candidates for the PBA post are RP coach Chot Reyes, SBP executive director Patrick Gregorio and former NEXTEL executive Lambert Ramos.
The PBA-backed SMC Team Pilipinas failed to earn a seat for next year’s Beijing Olympics during the qualifying tournament FIBA-Asia Championships in Tokushima, Japan early this year.
The RP squad mentored Reyes finished a ninth in the tournament despite the league’s all-out support.
According to Reyes, currently the team consultant of Magnolia Beverage, if named commissioner, the PBA will have "continued support" in forming the Philippine team.
Salud said that having a team in the Olympics is "everyone’s dream" since the last time a Philippine team played in the Games was during the 1972 Munich Olympics.
"We need years, not less than a year, to prepare and train for an Olympic berth that’s why we need to form a team as soon as possible," he added.
As for Gregorio, he said that is his goal when he becomes the commissioner is to improve the relationship of the PBA and the SBP.
The PBA Board of Governors, in a unanimous decision last week, has agreed to fast track the selection of the league’s seventh commissioner.
PBA Officer-in-Charge Sonny Barrios said the four candidates would be invited in the Dec. 17 board meeting to individually present their plans and programs for the league.
The aspirants will have a 20 to 25-minute interview before the board deliberates on the merits of each candidate.
A candidate must get six of the nine votes to be named commissioner. In the event none of the nominees got the required 2/3 nod, the top two candidates will contest the position through another round of voting.
Barrios said the board decided to name the new commissioner and replacement to the resigned Noli Eala early to give him enough time to orient himself on the ins and outs of the league.
He added that his stint as OIC will end on Feb. 28, 2008 and will be in charge of briefing the new commissioner.
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