SEVEN board members of the Philippine Basketball Association have banded together to “oust” Chito Narvasa as commissioner of the league, although according to the rules, the league needs eight members to do so.
In an emergency board meeting on Thursday at the league office in Libis, Quezon City, the seven board members from Meralco, Talk N' Text, NLEX, Blackwater, Rain or Shine, Alaska and Phoenix voted to “remove” Narvasa as they didn't give him a consensus vote of confidence.
Incoming league chair NLEX's Ramoncito Fernandez of NLEX, who presided over the meeting, announced that Rickie Santos, currently the PBA's deputy commissioner for basketball operations, has been appointed as officer-in-charge.
Fernandez, according to a PBA statement on Twitter, said that this will ensure the continuity of the league's operations.
Also in the meeting were TNT's Patrick Gregorio, Meralco's Al Panlilio, Rain or Shine's Mert Mondragon, Alaska's Dickie Bachmann, Blackwater's Silliman Sy and Phoenix's Raymond Zorrilla.
Board members from Ginebra, Star, SMB, Kia and GlobalPort did not attend the emergency board meeting.
Narvasa's approval of the controversial trade between San Miguel Beer and Kia that gave the Beermen the top pick, which eventually they used to get Christian Standhardinger, was the final straw that prompted the seven-member ball clubs to act upon the now-former commissioner's ouster.