Baseball summit wants all bases covered

MANILA, Philippines -  Baseball stakeholders yesterday formed an ad hoc committee to screen applicants to the expanding membership of the Philippine Amateur Baseball Association (Paba) preparatory to a sought-for election and charter change.

Convening in a summit at the Rizal Memorial baseball stadium, 43 officials and coaches from the teams’ organizations tackled the basic issues besetting the community, and initially concurred to put in order the Paba membership before moving forward to revising the charter and electing new officers.

Named to the committee were Richard Cruz of the Manila Sharks, Leslie Suntay of Baseball Philippines, Boy Tingzon of Philippine Tot Baseball, Randy Dizer of Batangas Bulls, Chito Gonzales of Little League, coach Egay delos Reyes, Ely Baradas, Rica Cabahit and Red Dumuk of Paba, Pepe Muñoz of Alabang Baseball, and Richard Estuesta of JCI Manila-Smokey Mountain Baseball.

“It’s good that they (PABA) agreed to form an ad hoc membership committee. It’s a good representation of very active organizations in baseball today,” said Cruz.

Suntay suggested setting up categories for membership: regular members with voting rights (organizations running tournaments for three years or more and presidents in the 17 regions); associate members (teams participating in regular tournaments); and probationary members (newly accepted teams).

Tingzon likewise recommended that LGU-based teams with programs and individuals willing to help baseball should also be considered for membership.

The ad hoc committee will meet again next week to collate the recommendations and present it to the Philippine Olympic Committee, which ordered the holding of such a gathering. Another summit will be set, in which they expect to formalize things with a POC representative in attendance and call for the polls.

“We need to put the PABA house in order, beginning with defining how to be a member, to encourage more organizations to put up more programs,” said Suntay. “It’s a good step, we’re hoping there’s a follow-through.”

Long-time PABA president Hector Navasero asked that the elections be held until after Southeast Asian Games, and the stakeholders seemed amenable to such arrangement.

“I want to win a gold medal in the SEA Games and get back at Thailand. This is my last shot after 25 years,” Navasero said.