Amid the “loss of confidence” from the seven PBA teams, under-fire Chito Narvasa is going to stay as the league’s commissioner, he himself said through an emergency press conference Tuesday afternoon at the league’s office in Libis.
“In terms of principle, I must stay,” said Narvasa, whose status as commish went in shambles as seven board members from NLEX, TNT, Meralco, Phoenix, Alaska, Rain or Shine, and Blackwater all agreed not to extend his term.
Narvasa bared that he has no qualms in leaving Asia’s first pro league, but rules, he added, should be followed. And that is the very same thing the five teams supporting him — San Miguel, Ginebra, Star, Kia, and Globalport — told him.
“I’m willing to resign. Wala namang problema,” he said. “The only thing na sinasabi nila is wala din naman problema sa kanila, [they said] ‘we can always join them.’ Ang sa amin is the procedures have to be followed and the reasons have to be clear.
“They have to know what the loss of confidence constituted, and ano yung procedure. It could have been discussed within the board lang. Why did they have to go through all this exercise, and cause public shame?,” added Narvasa, who took the position back in 2015.
The outcry from the seven board members most likely stemmed from his controversial approval of the KIA-San Miguel trade last Friday. Narvasa, on the other hand, took time to justify his decision regading such.
“When we tried to discussed it, I have to understand also the direction and reasons behind the trade,” said Narvasa. “I don’t think there is any team here that doesn’t want to win. They all know that the PBA is used talaga to market their product, but it’s also a source of pride.
“Kasi ‘pag mas marami kang panalo, you are associated with winning. So, I never doubted the intention of Kia kasi they came to me eh.”
He then revealed that he is in the middle of an investigation regarding the transaction of PBA TV coveror TV5, part of the MVP Group, with a betting company overseas, asking why is that not being questioned.
“TV5 made the transaction with the betting company without informing the PBA and denied the league the revenues from the said transaction,” Narvasa said.
This storm that has rained down on the league has clearly brought the attention of the public, especially on social media. And with that, Narvasa is apologetic, saying that he truly regrets what had transpired in just a short amount of time.
“I regret that this has happened. Ang affected naman dito is the PBA. I will always sacrifice myself for that. I’ve always thought that he PBA belongs already to the Filipino. Mahal na mahal natin ang laro ng basketall,” he said.
Now that his term as commissioner will extend for another season, Narvasa now hopes that the public will understand the reason behind his stay in power.
“Yun lang ang pakiusap ko. I hope people will understand the principle behind it. I’m fighting for the Office of the Commissioner. Nobody, no matter how powerful, should be able to frighten it, scare it, or threaten it.”
