FORMER PBA COMMISSIONER SALUD PASSES AWAY
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 07 Mar 2011
Former PBA Commissioner Rodrigo ?Rudy? Salud, the eminent lawyer who crafted the Constitution and By Laws of the PBA and first served as the Legal Counsel of the pro league under founding Commissioner Leo Prieto peacefully passed away at 12:13 p.m. on Monday at the Intensive Care Unit of Medical City in Pasig.
He would have turned 73 on Sunday.
His family led by his wife Josephine or ?Pampin?, current PBA Commissioner Angelico ?Chito? Salud, Dr. Arnold Salud, Christine, Margaret, Annabel and their families were at his bedside. Another son Renato ?Ato? Salud was scheduled to arrive from Singapore later in the day while daughter Priscilla was arriving from the US on Tuesday.
Viewing will be on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Sta. Maria Della Strada Parish along Katipunan Road, cor. Pansol St. In Quezon City. Interment will be on Thursday.
Salud is credited with turning around the fortunes of the PBA when questions of officiating integrity had turned off fans. His first act when he was unanimously chosen as Commissioner in 1988 was to terminate fifty percent of the referees which resulted in an immediate public response as basketball fans returned in droves and television ratings improved dramatically.
Salud resigned in 1992 to campaign for Ambassador Eduardo ?Danding? Cojuangco in the presidential elections that year underscoring the need to maintain the integrity of the Commissioner?s Office since Cojuangco owned the San Miguel Corporation teams in the PBA.
Salud who was also secretary general of the Games and Amusements Board under then chairman Justiniano Montano Jr helped establish the World Boxing Council where he served as founding secretary general under Montano who was elected president. Salud was responsible for writing the WBC Constitution and By Laws and headed its ratings committee which was known for enhancing the integrity of the organization.
Current WBC president Don Jose Sulaiman served under Salud and often paid tribute to his brilliance and his genuine love for the sport. When the WBC Convention was held in Manila some years ago Salud received one of the organizations top awards in recognition of his service to the WBC and the sport itself.
When Sulaiman learned of Salud?s confinement he informed the Inquirer ?I will be going to the Virgin of Guadalupe Shrine to pray for my dear friend Rodrigo.?
Salud also served as ABAP secretary general under the late Mayor Nemsio Yabut and the Philippine Racing Commission or Philracom under Yabut and later Ambassador Cojuangco.
Salud will be best remembered for his remarkable relationship with the sports media whom he considered partners and friends in bringing PBA entertainment to millions of Filipinos across the country. Salud embraced the concept of his acknowledged mentor Leo Prieto that for the PBA to succeed media would play a crucial role and he followed that creed until the end.
Salud would often say that the writings of the sports media gave him ?the greatest satisfaction.? Whether he agreed with the views of columnists or not , Salud believed that the comments were sincere and they bore malice towards none.
He was kind and generous to the members of media but always drove home the point that ?if you help somebody when he or she needs help, that is the Christian way and you never remember or recall what you do, but remind yourself of what you may have failed to do. ?
In 1990 when his longtime friend BAP president Lito Puyat requested the PBA to send a team to Beijing to represent the country in the Asian Games, Salud didn?t want to because he wished to preserve what he called ?the myth of Philippine invincibility.? But he gave in when media appealed to him to send a team which was coached by ?The Living Legend? Robert Jaworski. That team won a silver medal losing to mighty China in the finals which is, upto now, the best performance in the past two decades.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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