After seven years, former TNT governor and current Maynilad President/CEO Ricky Vargas returns to the PBA. And he will be immediately thrown into the fire as Vargas was named as the chairman of the PBA for its 43rd season.
“I was gone for seven years and now I’m back,” the amiable executive said during a press conference, Sunday afternoon.
Besides Vargas, the board of governors stood united. Magnolia’s Robert Non, Ginebra’s Alfrancis Chua, Globalport’s alternate governor Erick Arejola, NLEX’s Ramoncito Fernandez, Meralco’s Al Panlilio, Blackwater’s Silliman Sy, San Miguel’s Rene Pardo, Kia’s Bobby Rosales, and Rain or Shine’s Mert Mondragon stood side by side while league vice chairman Dickie Bachmann and treasurer Raymond Zorilla sat beisde him.
Fernandez was supposed to take over as league chairman this season but a swap between the two sister teams occured Sunday morning.
“NLEX so graciously gave way that resulted to a swap between NLEX and Talk ‘N Text, where NLEX graciously gave the opportunity to be the chair for this year in exchange for NLEX getting our slot,” disclosed Vargas.
With this, Vargas was grateful to the entire board for allowing this to happen as this will be the start of the league’s healing process after being under fire for the past few months.
“I’d like to thank some people who made us stronger than ever and never gave up during the cris the PBA went through a couple of months ago.
“One is Alfrancis Chua who was always there and looking for solutions. Bobby Rosales who never gave up. Al Panlilio was was beside me and worked towards a resolution,” he shared.
Moreover, he was grateful to former TNT governor Pato Gregorio for stepping aside for this to happen.
“Pato unlocked all of this, using his magic to reach an agreement between both parties.”
According to Vargas, the changes in chairmanship and the resignation of Chito Narvasa was done with the fans in mind.
“We’re stronger than ever and we will stay like that as we begin the healing process,” he said.
“This is all for the fans.”
