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NO
papers were signed and no pacts were sealed but,
according to Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)
commissioner Sonny Barrios, everything points to the
positive in as far as raising the money for the future
PBA players-laced national team is concerned.
Barrios
and PBA board chairman Tony Chua met Thursday with Ricky
Vargas, vice president of the Basketball Association of
thje Philippines-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (BAP-SBP),
at the Shangri-La Plaza Hotel about the issue of
financing the national team of professionals.
And
Barrios stressed Vargas had a “very positive approach”
to the offer of the league. The PBA has agreed to
provide the players for the future national teams but
would no longer shoulder the expenses.
“The
response was positive in the sense that Mr. Vargas told
us he’ll work on it, but he has to confer it first with
the SBP people, especially to Mr. [Manny] Pangilinan,”
Barrios told the BusinessMirror. Pangilinan is the
president of the BAP-SBP, as well as the chairman of
both PLDT and Smart.
“Having
said that, this does not mean he’s committing Smart or
PLDT to the funding issue. He’ll take this up with his
principals and work out the details. For the PBA, it’s a
good development kaysa marinig natin na they are
turning it down,” he added.
Vargas,
a former PBA chairman, is expected to report on his
meeting with the PBA brass in the BAP-SBP’s planning
session today.
The
league agreed to lend its players for the 2009
International Basketball Federation Asia qualifier in
China for the World Championship in Turkey the following
year.
“From
what Mr. Vargas had told us in the meeting, it seems
that we’ll be getting a solution to this funding issue.
Ang masakit if Mr. Vargas told us they are begging off,
mukhang tagilid ang barko natin dito,” he added.
Barrios
guaranteed that the funds for would definitely not
compare to the team handled by Chot Reyes which tried,
and failed, to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
That team reportedly spent P40 million, all shouldered
by the PBA.
Reyes’s
RP 5 had trainings in Las Vegas, played against
California State University in Carson, and competed in
Jones Cup in Taipei , Brunei Cup and in the Seaba
tournament in Indonesia .
“This
team will be together only for two months because they
won’t be pulled out from their respective mother teams
unlike before na nabuo agad sila and they had a
time to travel together,” Barrios said.
The
naming of the coach was also discussed in their meeting
and the league commissioner promised to Vargas and Chua
that the national team mentor will be revealed right
after the ongoing Fiesta Conference.
“We
don’t want the naming the coaching to take the spotlight
away from the ongoing tournament that we are
having right now. If we name the coach right now,
chances are baka matabunan ang Fiesta Cup
natin,” he added. |
