Converge owner asks for reconsideration as PBA board denies Dennis Pineda as team governor

Converge team governors Chito Salud, Converge co-founder and CEO Dennis Uy and PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial. PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines–Converge owner Dennis Anthony Uy is hoping that the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) would reconsider its decision to deny Pampanga governor Dennis Pineda being the team’s representative to the league’s Board of Governors.

Pineda’s political connections have prompted board members to thumb down his inclusion, but Uy said in a statement on Friday that the former will be beneficial for the league moving forward.

“Just as other PBA leaders past and present worked tirelessly for [the league’s] success, Governor Pineda will undoubtedly do the same for the league, if not more,” Uy said.

“We believe that new ideas, fresh perspectives, and better and stronger competition which Governor Pineda would definitely bring to the PBA could only attract a wider, bigger fan base for our players and the league,” he continued.

The decision was made during the league’s monthly meeting last Tuesday, but it was only two days later that PBA commissioner Willie Marcial confirmed the decision.

Ex-PBA commissioner Chito Salud will remain as team governor following the decision, but was given the chance to explain Converge’s side during the discussion with fellow board members.

“After a thorough discussion, the PBA Board of Governors collectively decided without aid of a vote that the PBA shall remain apolitical in its affair,” the PBA said in its letter addressed to the Converge camp.

Pineda initially was included in the Converge camp as team manager, a role that has now been taken by 23-year-old former Ateneo cager Jacob Lao after the FiberXers decided to rejig its management.

“Not only do we continue to believe in every owner’s prerogative to appoint his representative to the board, we also advocate openness and less rigidity so that this prerogative can be reasonably and judiciously upheld in the face of clear, compelling reasons for why a Delta Pineda sitting in the PBA can only make [the] PBA stronger and its fans better served,” Uy continued.

“The appointment of a public servant in the PBA Board of Governors would not necessarily make it political. Converge is urging that this policy be revisited or, at the very least, more liberally interpreted so as not to negate the owner’s prerogative and for the betterment of the PBA and Philippine basketball.”