BAP to go grassroots via DILG

To strengthen its mass-based development program, the Basketball Association of the Philippines plans to review its Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Interior and Local Government.

This will help the BAP promote the sport in the different provinces, cities, towns and barangays while it coordinates with various leagues of local officials relative to the BAP’s programs, projects and activities.

Joey Lina, the former senator and DILG secretary who was recently elected BAP president, will present the MOA’s implementing guidelines to newly-confirmed DILG Secretary Angelo Reyes.

Reviewing the MOA, which Lina signed with the BAP when he was still DILG boss, is just one of the six focal points that were taken up during a meeting among the BAP officials last Thursday.

Also tackled were the country’s participation in international tournaments, the selection of players who will comprise the national teams, the professional management of BAP affairs, the setting up of a basketball academy and a review of its calendar of activities for the rest of the year.

Addressing these issues, Lina believes, will help his association when it calls on Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose "Peping" Cojuangco to lift the suspension it imposed on the BAP last month.

Lina, who is joined by Air 21 president Lito Alvarez and former POC chief Cristy Ramos Jalasco in the board, is also confident that these changes will help the BAP preserve the crucial FIBA (International Basketball Federation) recognition.