Vargas takes over as PBA chair

Talk n Text’s Ricky Vargas is expected to be tapped as the new Philippine Basketball Association chair starting today as the league board of governors holds its annual election of officers at the Diamond Hotel on Roxas Blvd.

Vargas, senior vice president for human resources at PLDT who served as PBA board vice chairman in the last season, succeeds outgoing chair Ely Capacio of San Miguel Beer.

Red Bull’s Tony Chua takes his turn to be vice chairman while Air21’s Lito Alvarez is expected to be the new treasurer.

After his formal election, Vargas will preside over the annual general board meeting on Aug. 12-14 in Macau to be hosted by new member ball club Welcoat Paints. It’s the second time the PBA board holds its annual board meeting abroad after its conference in Hong Kong last year.

The 2006-07 season formally opens Oct. 1 at the Araneta Coliseum but the league stages an official game Sept. 22 in Guam pitting Red Bull and Alaska Milk.

PBA media bureau chief Willy Marcial said they’re also finalizing talks with foreign organizers for other out-of-the-country games in Singapore, Dubai and Australia in the coming season. The league drew huge crowd in their visits in Indonesia last year and Hong Kong early this year.

The PBA’s first official activity in the season is the Annual Rookie Camp on Aug. 20 at Market! Market! in Taguig. Afterwards, the league holds a series of pre-season games in the provinces and different colleges and universities to drum up the coming season.

Before the draft, the league stages a six-day rookie camp from Aug. 7-12 to give coaches of the 10 PBA teams a better glimpse of the draft hopefuls. The aspirants will be divided into five teams, which play a sort of mini-tourney.

Sta. Lucia Realty, however, has made known its intention to pick Far Eastern U’s Arwind Santos as the No. 1 pick overall.

Philippine Cup champion Purefoods will be picking No. 9 overall and coach Ryan Gregorio said they will opt for a big man to shore up their frontcourt.

Fiesta Cup titlist Red Bull has given away its first-round pick in a previous trade deal, and the team management said it’s likely to keep its lineup intact.

"We only have two players in Celino Cruz and EJ Feihl whose contracts have expired. Definitely, we’ll re-sign Celino," said Red Bull team manager Tony Chua.

"We’re certainly short in big men but Omanzie Rodriguez is set to return from injury in the coming season," Chua added.