Pato Gregorio named SBP exec?

A virtual outsider in Philippine basketball may well be named executive director of the BAP-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

Patrick ‘Pato’ Gregorio, the former Waterfront Hotel chain president who’s now chief marketing officer of Microtel group, is reportedly the choice of no less than BAP-SBP president Manny Pangilinan to run the day-to-day operations of the group.

In fact, Gregorio, 36, even stood in behalf of Pangilinan as the newly crowned SEABA Champions Cup winner Harbour Centre-Team Philippines was feted in a brief ceremony during the opening of the PBL second conference yesterday at the Olivarez Sports Center in Paranaque.

Pato, older brother of Purefoods coach Ryan and Air21 assistant mentor Allan, admitted having been informed of his nomination.

"It’s hard to be excited because we have to go through process and I have to respect it," said Gregorio, who graduated cum laude in UP and a Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardee in 2003.

Previous nominees to the post include the late PBA commissioner Jun Bernardino and Chito Salud, son of former PBA head Rudy Salud.

The sensitive position has yet to be filled in more than two months after the formation of BAP-SBP.

In the event his nomination is accepted, Gregorio would be very busy till the end of the year as several major tournaments are calendared for 2007, including the FIBA-Asia Olympic qualifying event in Tokushima, Japan in July and the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand in December.

"That is if I’ll be named as executive director," said Gregorio with a meaningful smile.

Gregorio has handled several major events, including an international volleyball tournament in Cebu three years ago and the Golden Tour of cycling in 2005. – Nelson Beltran