Team owners trust crucial says Salud

BANGKOK—Chito Salud knows that he has a tough job ahead and the trust of the league’s team owners will play an important part in his role as commissioner.   “It’s a matter of earning their (team owners’) trust and confidence,” Salud told the Inquirer Monday night before joining board members in dinner in a local seafood restaurant here.   “If I can do that, then I will basically have the same surroundings as my (early) predecessors had,” he added. “If I don’t, then I am of no use here.”   Salud will follow in the footsteps of his father, Rodrigo Salud, the lawyer who called the shots in the PBA as its third commissioner from late in the ’80s to the early ’90s—when the league was the biggest sports-entertainment vehicle in town.   During those times, the Office of the Commissioner enjoyed such autonomy that team owners gave it blanket authority to chart the league’s path.   It was a formula that gave the PBA so much success under commissioners Leo Prieto, Mariano Yenko, the elder Salud, Rey Marquez and Emilio Bernardino Jr.   “Those men were very successful because they were able to make the PBA into what the fans wanted,” he continued. “Of course, all of the teams have their own interests, but those men were able to balance them and uphold the overall interest of the PBA above all.”   Chito guarantees that he will not flip-flop in making the decisions and would not hesitate going against a particular team if he has to.