Willie Marcial hit the ground running as he announced a slew of new policies to be implemented by the league in his first day in office as officer-in-charge of the Philippine Basketball Association.
Marcial's first order was the appointment of Eric Castro as technical director while also overseeing the league operations on concurrent basis.
Castro's jurisdictions now include handling of the referees, table officials and the stats team while Rickie Santos, the PBA deputy commissioner for operations, is on leave.
Upon the approval of the league board of governors, Marcial is also forming a five-man committee from within the Commissioner's Office to deal with player trade proposals.
It used to be the sole call of the commissioner whether to approve or disapprove trade deals.
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Then there will be new corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs to be run by the league.
The PBA will identify heroes or good Samaritans to be honored by the league on every Sunday bill.
"It's not original; concept yan ng NBA where they salute men in uniform. But I deem it well to be also done in the PBA," said Marcial.
PBA players will be tapped in another CSR program in Marcial's mind.
"Players with minor offenses na nabibigatan sa fine, we'll give them an option to serve our CSR program," said Marcial.
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"Magiikot kami sa kung saan-saang basketball courts, kakabitan namin ng PBA stickers yung court nila and we'll give away basketball balls and some shirts," Marcial added.
Marcial was appointed PBA OIC or league caretaker on the exit of resigned commissioner Chito Narvasa.
