Salud looms frontrunner for PBA post

The Philippine Basketball Association will have a new commissioner on or before Dec. 17.

The five-man selection committee, headed by PBA chair Tony Chua of Red Bull, yesterday decided to fast track the selection process and vowed to appoint a successor to Noli Eala not later than a week before Christmas, according to PBA officer-in-charge Sonny Barrios.

Lawyer Chito Salud, son of former PBA commissioner Rudy Salud, is the frontrunner among the short list of candidates, that includes Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Patrick Gregorio, former RP team coach Chot Reyes, Ateneo athletic director Ricky Palou and Nextel executive Lambert Ramos.

However, Salud said it’s still anyone’s ballgame.

“It’s a wide open race, a race among capable individuals,” Salud said. “Each individual has his own ability and assets which he would bring to the table.”

Salud, tapped by Barrios to serve as his legal counsel, said his advantage over the rest is his experience and foresight he inherited from his father and Leo Prieto, the league’s founding commissioner.

“I agreed to work this season in the PBA to be able to give something back in my own way to an institution that has been good to many people, including my family,’’ said Salud.

“At the same time, I wanted to know the PBA of today, its current goals and challenges,’’ he added.

Barrios said the four candidates would be invited to a meeting to present their plans and programs for the league.

“The candidates will be called to make their presentation one at a time. After that the nominees will undergo a 25-30 minutes of question and answer procedure,” Barrios said.

The board will then immediately deliberate on the merits of each candidate and then proceed with the voting.

According to Barrios, whoever among the nominees get six of nine votes during the initial voting will be named commissioner.

In the event none of the candidates gets the required 2/3 votes, only the top two candidates will contest the position, which will be decided by another round of voting. – Joey Villar