Hopes high as 36th PBA season blasts off Sunday

MANILA, Philippines–With the promise of better officiating and more room for the players to show their best, the 36th season of the Philippine Basketball Association blasts off Sunday with the Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Commissioner Chito Salud harped on these two factors yesterday during the formal launch of what will be a three-tournament year at the Diamond Hotel, expressing confidence that the fans will be lured back to the games again the way his father did more than a decade back.

Salud said that officiating starting this season  will now allow the players to display their best moves more as the Commissioner’s Office will do away with the touch fouls that have ruined many a game in the past.

“I would like to call it the ‘no-harm-in-the-play, no-foul rule,’” Salud said during the launch attended by Season 36 chair Rene Pardo of Derby Ace, vice Mamerto Mondragon of Rain or Shine, treasurer Jose Bayani Baylon of Powerade and all but two other members of the board.

“Marginal contact will be let go,” Salud said. “That’s what we think Filipinos (fans) like, and it gets the players to play their hearts out—the kind of game the fans like. The PBA would like to go back to that.”

Newcomer Meralco, with former Derby Ace coach Ryan Gregorio calling the shots, plunges into action right on opening day, as the B-Boys tangle with Barangay Ginebra in the only game scheduled.

Meralco, the squad that once had Robert Jaworski, Big Boy Reynoso and other stars in the defunct Micaa, makes its return to big-time caging after purchasing the franchise of Sta. Lucia, which joined the league in 1993.

Glitzy opening rites, one which Salud said have never been seen on television before, will also highlight opening day starting at 4:30 p.m.

San Miguel Beer, Alaska and Talk ‘N Text were the consensus favorites among members of the board, though Robert Non, the Ginebra representative, provided some light moments while fielding media querries.

“Ginebra will win all three titles this year, if only to help the PBA at the gates,” Non said with a smile.

The Derby Ace Llamados, who won this tournament as Purefoods last year, will have a new coach in George Gallent and could be without the injured Kerby Raymundo for a long period in the elimination round.