Non: PBA gave ‘achiever’ Montreal second chance

PBA chairman Robert Non. PBA IMAGES

PBA chair Robert Non Friday clarified the league’s decision to rehire the league’s controversial marketing manager, saying the officer “would start from scratch” after reapplying for the post.

Non, also the San Miguel Beer representative in the league board, reacted to an Inquirer report in which Alaska owner Wilfred Uytengsu said the rehiring of Rhose Montreal “speaks poorly of the PBA as a professional organization.”

Montreal resigned two weeks ago after she was found to have falsified school records, making it appear she graduated from the University of the Philippines.

READ: Uytengsu: Montreal rehiring speaks poorly of PBA

The state university said Montreal is not in its roster of graduates.

Non emphasized that Montreal “is a new hire” who needs to prove herself over a six-month probationary period.

Montreal forfeited all her benefits “amounting to more than a million (pesos)” when she resigned from the league.

Montreal’s fake scholastic claim was something the board was willing to ignore in giving her a second chance, considering her “exemplary performance” in the past nine years, said Non.

“We took her in on the basis of her new application, and that is with legitimate (school) records this time,” Non said. “We are also doing this because of humanitarian reasons.”

Non said the board, and not league commissioner Chito Narvasa, decided on Montreal’s case because Narvasa did not have hiring and firing powers when the controversy surfaced.