Marcial assures Nat’l 5 support, forms ‘trade body’

Willie Marcial

Willie Marcial’s first act as officer-in-charge of the Philippine Basketball Association was to form a five-man committee that will look into the fairness of trades, with his stint as the PBA’s top official seemingly poised to last more than the 30 days that he asked for.

“He (Marcial) could ultimately be handling the league longer,” a member of the PBA board said recently, as the body has yet to officially start coming up with names that will make up the list of candidates for the commissioner post.

To ensure smooth sailing while he is OIC, Marcial created the committee that will deliberate on trade proposals. He likewise came up with an option for erring players to settle fines by performing community services.

Marcial also assured Gilas Pilipinas’ coach Chot Reyes the availability of Jayson Castro, Kiefer Ravena, Kevin Alas, RR Pogoy, Matthew Wright, Allein Maliksi, Gabe Norwood, Calvin Abueva, Carl Bryan Cruz, Mac Belo, Troy Rosario, Jio Jalalon, Raymond Almazan, Japeth Aguilar and June Mar Fajardo to the national pool.

Reyes tweeted the names on Thursday night. From the initial 15, he will pick 11 who will join naturalized center Andray Blatche for the Feb. 22 match against world No. 10 Australia in Melbourne and against Japan three days later in Manila.

Melvin Mendoza, the league’s legal counsel, technical committee members Eric Castro, Mauro Bengua Jr. and Rosc Tioteco are the members of the group which Marcial will head. The group will vote on all trade proposals.

“Each will have a say,” Marcial said. “My vote only comes in when there is a need to break a tie.”

The San Miguel Beer-Kia Picanto trade that sent the No. 1 draft pick to the Beermen was the deal that triggered calls for Chito Narvasa’s ouster, as the board was split into two factions.

That pick turned out to be 6-foot-7 Filipino-German center Christian Standhardinger, who is set to join the Beermen by July at the earliest.

Team representatives on opening day last Dec. 17 showed a face of unity by appearing before the media, saying they have accepted Narvasa’s resignation dated at the end of last year. The board also announced the appointment of Marcial who, it was later learned, had asked to look after the league for just 30 days.

The community service program that Marcial has put in place will be limited to fines that are not above P5,000 and minor court infractions.