For one fleeting moment in late 2008 after Yeng Guiao resigned as head coach and the economy took a downturn, the unimaginable crossed the mind of Barako Bull (then Red Bull) owner George Chua.

“Nag-usap kami ni pareng Tony (Chua, the team manager) at tinanong ko siya kung sa tingin niya kaya pa namin tumuloy (as a PBA ballclub),” said Chua during a get-together with a handful of sportswriters at his sprawling office-warehouse on Marcos Highway in Antipolo.

Tony Chua, who would perish in September last year, along with an aide, at the height of Typhoon Ondoy, counseled him to hang on.

Boss George to close friends, Chua also discussed the matter with his family and was advised that staying in the PBA may be the best he could do under the circumstances.

Chua pitched tent and buried the stakes deeper, vowing to pick up the pieces of a fragmented franchise that reached its highest peak at the turn of the century with three championships and nine consecutive Final Four appearances.

And his resolve to mix it up with the big boys in the pro league, despite his relatively juvenile lineup, remains unwavering.

A couple of days ago, Chua met with PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios and assured him over breakfast in a Makati restaurant that Barako Bull, with the support of a co-branding partner, will be fielding a team for the 36th season which starts in October.

And that the team, contrary to speculations, was not for sale.

Mild-mannered and amiable, Chua admitted being hurt by news reports questioning player dealings Barako Bull got involved in and casting doubt on their ability to maintain a competitive ballclub.

He was, however, adamant that nothing he said on the subject that evening should see print.

“Off the record,” he insisted before addressing the nagging issue.

Quick with a childlike smile and quicker still with passionate if softly-spoken assertions, Chua said the death of his long-time friend and namesake was a terrible blow.

Tony Chua and his assistant Joenare Pedal were swept away by raging flood waters into a swelled-up creek less than a hundred matters from their Antipolo plant. Tony was hauled up from the churning current but suffered a fatal heart attack while Joenare was carried away by the swirling waters, his body to be recovered later.

“Sobrang bigat sa kalooban ang nangyari kina pareng Tony,” George Chua said, pointing to a spot five feet up the dining room wall where the waters of Ondoy reached up.

But the former PBA Executive of the Year, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, is back on his feet, with a topnotch product he is set to re-launch on a wide scale and a decimated ballclub he intends to fill up through the free agent market.

“We have six players with live contracts and four to five with expiring ones. We will start negotiations with those with expiring contracts but we will first see if there are any players from other teams we can lure,” he said.

Despite the hard times his company has gone through, Chua said he harbors no plans to leave the PBA, which “has been good to me and my family” and remains a “very good” advertising vehicle.