PBA, SBP to craft concrete policy to strengthen Gilas

SONNY Thoss (left) and Matt Ganuelas-Rosser take a breather during a Gilas Pilipinas practice at Meralco Gym in Pasig. AUGUST DELA CRUZ

TOKYO—The country’s pro league fears that the national basketball federation, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, is sliding back to an old practice that for many years resulted in woeful stints by the Philippine team internationally.

To thwart this direction, the PBA board of governors is prepared to work with the SBP in crafting a concrete program for the Gilas squad and in strengthening its talent pool.

“What’s happening is we are going back to the old system where the BAP would ask the Micaa in haste to form a Philippine team,” said new PBA chair Robert Non.

Non was referring to the unpopular practice of the Basketball Association of the Philippines, forerunner of the SBP, in asking the Micaa (the defunct Manila Industrial and Commerial Athletic Association) to make players immediately available for the national team.

“We need a concrete program and a solution for the national team,” he said.

League president and CEO Chito Salud said the PBA needs “to sit down with the SBP as soon as possible.”

“We want a long-term formula for the constitution, formation and supervision of the national team,” Salud told sportswriters here after the planning session of team governors.

The league board wants the SBP to come up with a clear-cut international schedule and program considering that the Fiba will soon implement a new qualifying process that could run for 15 months starting in November next year for the Fiba World Cup in China.

Salud and Non said the team governors want to be able to come up with the new scheme before the end of the year.

“We need to find out from our team owners and stakeholders how to address the situation, how to look and move forward,” said Salud.

“There were several arrangements that worked in the past. And if those don’t prove acceptable to the stakeholders today, then we would need to revisit them.”

Starting 2017, the Fiba will require countries to play home-and-away games quarterly for a period that could last 15 months.

Without a new PBA-SBP understanding, this Fiba set-up could hurt the national team program as the pro league schedule runs continuously for close to 10 months.