By TITO S. TALAO
MILAN – The “commonality” and “inclusiveness” which PBA chairman Ricky Vargas of TNT KaTropa has brought to the PBA board is what current vice chair Bobby Rosales of Columbian Dyip hopes to continue in the event he assumes the top post.
“What he has done the past two years going to his third, Chairman Ricky really has united the board,” said Rosales moments before the governors went behind closed doors for a daylong planning session.
“There is now a commonality in our objectives and goals which has made the PBA more inclusive with all the programs of Commissioner [Willie] Marcial,” he said.
By being inclusive, Rosales said, the league has of late “extended to everybody who loves basketball, with all our community-based programs and out-of-town games that reach out to other places.”
He added on the effort the league is exerting to expand: “At the end of day, it all redounds to the benefit of the basketball fans and the players.”
The PBA board has done away with the previous succession process and voted Vargas, also president of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap), to two consecutive terms after he took over in the midst of internal turmoil in 2017.
Rosales came aboard as vice chairman under the same election system six years after the PBA accepted the Columbian franchise, along that of Blackwater, into the fold. He has to be voted upon if he is to lead the PBA in the 46th season or the next.
A key component of Vargas’ tenure, according to Rosales, is the program put in place by the PBA and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, under Meralco Bolts governor Al Panlilio, covering the league’s involvement in the national team.
“We’ve really come a long way in helping develop and prepare the Gilas team, especially for the forthcoming FIBA World Cup,” said Rosales.
Does he have anything envisioned in the horizon this early?
“The Chairman has done a lot for the PBA, and as vice chairman now, I share the same goal as he has,” Rosales said, sidestepping the question.
“Hopefully when all his all-inclusive programs take effect fully, we will be able to invite or attract more people to watch the games not only in the venue but also in the social media platform.”
Going beyond borders, Rosales stressed, is the PBA’s ultimate goal.
“The PBA has always been looking for ways to go beyond basketball, how to be able to extend or develop more programs for the benefit of more people.
That’s where we envision the PBA to go in the medium and long term.”
