PBA board settles TV rights issue

The members of the PBA board of governors settled their differences spawned by the controversial broadcast rights in a meeting Monday but expressed disappointment over the varying views expressed by two members through the media.

In particular, they were disappointed over the move by Talk N Text’s Ricky Vargas questioning the recent board decision on the TV rights issue in the media.

Alaska’s Wilfred Uytengsu, who was also very vocal on the board’s decision on the TV rights, was not present in the meeting. A reliable source, however, said the board intends to discuss the issue further with Uytengsu in the next meeting.

Alaska alternate board representative Joaqui Trillo attended the meeting but excused himself early as he was not feeling well.

"His (Uytengsu’s) attention will also be called. Hindi siya patatawarin ng board, dahil noong siya nga ang chairman, he even asked a team owner to replace his board representative for an alleged misbehavior within the board," said The STAR source.

The governors present in the meeting were chairman Jun Cabalan of Barangay Ginebra, vice-chair Buddy Encarnado of Sta. Lucia, Bobby Kanapi of Shell, JB Baylon of Coca-Cola, Lito Alvarez of FedEx, Manny Mendoza of Red Bull, Ely Capacio of Purefoods and Bert Manlapit of San Miguel Beer.

The source said Vargas later thanked the board for reminding him of their gentleman’s agreement on issues that should be kept within the confines of the board.

PBA commissioner Noli Eala called the meeting "very calm" and said "the board showed class and oneness in trying to move forward."

He added: "All’s well that ends well. Chairman Jun Cabalan handled the situation very well."

The board called Vargas’ attention on his remarks on the board’s decision to grant the NBN/IBC consortium the league’s broadcast rights. The board’s Code of Ethics prohibits any governor from discussing with the media issues tackled within the board.

Uytengsu and Vargas scored the board decision sealing the deal between the PBA and the NBN/IBC consortium for the PBA broadcast rights two weeks ago, both saying the TV rights bidder should have been declared in default for its failure to deliver requirements the board wanted on time.

Vargas called the board "wimps" for bending several times to NBN/IBC. He said: "The board would look like wimps. We went backward so many times, parang kami pa ang nakikiusap sa kanila."