|
AMIABLE
Red Bull team manager Tony Chua wants
nothing but the best not only for the Philippine
Basketball Association (PBA) but for Philippine
basketball as well.
Chua
recently assumed his post as the PBA’s new chairman,
succeeding Ricky Vargas of Talk ‘N Text.
“Perhaps
I’m a little nervous because I’ve never been a chairman
in my entire life. Thankfully I’ve learned from previous
chairmen like Ricky Vargas, Buddy Encarnado [of Sta.
Lucia] and Ely Capacio [then of Purefoods],” disclosed
Chua.
In
mapping out his strategies for the league, Chua will try
to instill not only among players, coaches and team and
league officials but also to Filipino basketball fans
about the potentially exciting qualities of
international rules.
“I’ve
been telling other teams that we should get European
imports for us to get an idea of how they play,” said
Chua. “In
Europe we can find the best players because they now have the world
caliber players.”
Chua
maintains that his dream of seeing European players play
in the league will just be a request to the other team
members and will not be a mandatory order from the
league.
“It is
the prerogative of the team which import to get but
since we are already involved in the efforts to
reinforce the national team, we might as well get those
who could help us adapt to international plays,” said
Chua.
Chua is
adamant FIBA rules will eventually be appreciated by
Filipino basketball fans as opposed to longstanding
beliefs that the adoption of international rules will
not be beneficial to the league.
“True,
the PBA is about entertaining people but we also saw
that fans are excited about international [plays]
because they often get to see international tournaments
on TV,” said Chua.
Chua
said that because the league still attained success at
the gates since it enforced a FIBA-friendly calendar two
years ago, he sees no struggle for the league should it
implement certain FIBA game rules.
“That’s
the reason why we changed our calendar, to take part in
international competitions. I think it’s also about time
to make adjustments to FIBA rules” added Chua.
Sometime
this month, the PBA board will convene in Macau where
the adoption of FIBA rules will be tackled.
Recently, a committee was formed to specify FIBA rules
that will be used in the coming PBA season.
Rough
welcome
CHUA
recently took his seat as chairman but was welcomed
rather brusquely as he started his tenure with the
league still reeling from the unenthusiastic impact of
the controversial resignation of commissioner Noli Eala.
Early
last month, Eala formally announced his resignation as
league commissioner almost a week after a decision
favoring his disbarment as practicing lawyer was meted
out by the Supreme Court.
“It’s a
challenge for us in the PBA. Right now we are forming a
search committee to determine who will be the permanent
commissioner,” added Chua. “But right now we haven’t
settled on the criteria in selecting our permanent
commissioner.”
Nearly a
week after Eala’s resignation, the PBA named Renauld
“Sonny” Barrios as officer-in-charge.
Barrios
temporarily took over as league boss when former
commissioner Jun Bernardino had to undergo a major heart
operation in 2001.
At the
end of the 2003 season, Barrios was one of the
candidates to succeed Bernardino but eventually lost out
to Eala.
Lucky
Tony
CHUA
admitted he was in an uneasy situation after Eala
resigned as he knew all the responsibilities will fall
on his lap.
“Of
course, as incoming chairman I hold all the
responsibilities,” revealed Chua.
Good for
him, Chua added, that he learned a lot of things from
his predecessors in running the affairs of the league.
“They
have their own styles and I’m lucky I learned a lot from
their tenure,” admitted Chua. “I was really concerned
about the resignation of Eala because I had nowhere to
turn to. Basically it looked like I would have to do
everything.”
Another
factor Chua said that is making work easy for him was
the availability of Barrios as OIC of the league.
“I’m so
blessed because everything is blazing in the sky for me.
When Eala resigned, we were about to get Sonny Barrios.
So everything has been ironed out for me to sit as
chairman,” said Chua. “I really talked to Sonny and I
told him that my first agenda is to do something good
for the officiating. In a matter of one day we addressed
the problem.”
Better
officiating
CHUA’s
other longstanding desire is to improve the officiating
of the league, something that he intends to feverishly
work on while he is chairman.
Chua
feels it is one factor that will help a lot in
maintaining and eventually improving the excitement of
the games from the point of view of the basketball fans.
“If we
come out with a fair and consistent officiating people
will come out and continue to support the league because
they know there’s nothing rigged about the games,” said
Chua. “Even on TV when they watch the games, they know
that everything is for real and the officiating is
okay.”
Although
Chua would rather not dwell on the quality officiating
the past few years, he just wants to focus on improving
the quality of referees.
In
taking over as OIC, Barrios revealed that his one major
concern is the nagging issue about officiating.
One of
the requests Barrios asked from Vargas is to allow him
to bring in lawyer Chito Salud, son of former PBA
commissioner Rudy Salud.
“It’s
one critical area that we should focus on since this is
our main thrust, how the games are played. The games are
rules and regulations-based,” said the 60-year-old
Barrios. “Atty. Chito [Salud] can definitely help along
that line. The players should be able to play their
game. Referees shouldn’t be onion-skinned and
vindictive.”
One of
the elder Salud’s many legacies that made him a
successful commissioner was his handling of the league’s
officiating.
When
Salud took over as commissioner, he revamped almost half
of the roster of referees and replaced them with more
competent game officials.
Working
chairman
“THE way
I look at it, even governors should participate in the
day-to-day works to improve the operation of the PBA,”
said Chua. “It’s not that nothing was happening before
but I want to be known as a working chairman.”
A
program that Chua wants to achieve is the establishment
of a PBA dome that will serve as the league’s permanent
home.
“Its
definitely a good program for the league but I will
admit it’s still far-fetched. But if ever there are
development under my chairmanship, definitely we will
push through with it,” disclosed Chua. “I will open that
to the board and we’ll see how far development plans
go.”
Chua
said he intends to complete whatever projects that were
started by Vargas and will also set up more significant
plans under his watch that will also turn out to be a
good jump-start for the next chairman.
“There
are so many things lacking in the league. As a chairman
I have the right to propose and then convene the board
as long as the idea is something that is for the
betterment of the league,” added Chua.
Chua’s
involvement in the Photokina franchise has something to
do with his friendship with team owner George Chua.
“I was
not employed with Photokina before. It just so happened
that George and I are childhood friends and schoolmates
in Letran,” revealed Chua. “We’re both fond of football
and that’s where our tie-up began, until I told George,
as part of the advertising of Agfa, let’s go into
basketball.”
Chua is
hopeful that under his term, the PBA will continue to
reap the fruits of its laborious but victorious battle
against various crises in the past and that it will
spill over in their quest to gain international
respectability. |
