Salud’s sincerity saves the PBA

PBA commissioner Chito Salud has handled the issue of the Dubai incident with quiet dignity and a frankness that speaks well of the young man’s ability to see what is wrong and move to right it.
We have always had an unflinching faith in the Saluds, beginning with our beloved friend, the late illustrious gentleman-sportsman Rudy Salud, to accept a mistake, apologize for it, and to move swiftly to correct it.
Chito Salud has done what we expected him to do in the face of criticism over the debacle in Dubai. We consider the Saluds family, because Rudy Salud honored us with that privilege.
However, for all our respect and affection for the young league commissioner, we trust people will understand that our responsibility to the public is paramount and our obligation is to tell it like it is.
Salud’s reaction and even that of PBA media bureau chief Willie Marcial, who has an uncanny knack of winning over people with his own brand of charm, was measured, sincere and acceptable.
The main thing is Salud realized what went wrong and has moved swiftly to institute corrective measures that should guarantee there would be no repeat of what happened in Dubai.
Beyond that, he earned the respect and admiration of the Talk ‘N Text players, who had been greatly inconvenienced, by attending their practice and apologizing to them.
Jimmy Alapag, who is a classy individual himself, said Salud’s gesture was a class act.
Team owner and esteemed businessman-sportsman Manny V. Pangilinan and PBA governor Ricky Vargas, who has always thought highly of the commissioner, were both impressed by Salud’s sincerity in acknowledging the mistakes made.
Both men have made it clear they want Salud to succeed as commissioner and would do their share in helping achieve that goal.
Salud was man enough to take direct “accountability and responsibility over the deficiencies in the Dubai incident.”
He accepted the fact that the deficiency lay in the decision “to partner with a promoter that has a questionable track record and the resulting delay in the return of the TNT team”  for which, out of common courtesy, he personally apologized to the team and management.
Salud explicitly stated he wished he had stayed with his players, and that he would have done so if he hadn’t checked in. His embracing the players as his, spoke volumes of his concern for the men who play the game.
The commissioner drove home the point—which his actions so far have reinforced—that he treats all the teams and all the players fairly in matters that are game- and non-game related.
The measures instituted by Salud are sound and most welcome. They include up-front payment from the promoter to give complete control to the PBA over travel and hotel accommodation abroad and more stringent criteria in the selection of promoters.
He will insist on clear-cut procedures in travel arrangements in order to ensure not only the smooth conduct of the games but also the trip itself from the point of departure to the point of arrival.
Salud gave an assurance that henceforth the Commissioner’s Office will be the last to check in.
Salud has shown his ability to handle a crisis and emerge a stronger and better man for it.
That, indeed, is the essence of good men with a celebrated bloodline.