BY RONNIE NATHANIELSZ

THERE is a natural instinct among human beings, even animals, of protecting those they love and the institutions they care for.

To us, the Philippine Basketball Association is one such institution which became part of the every day lives of millions of Filipinos, but in recent years has slowly seen its integrity, its style and its essential values steadily eroded. We strive hopefully by drawing attention to what is going on, to protect a once great league from disintegrating through a continuous erosion of its vision and what it stood for.

The blame for this must be laid squarely at the doorstep of the PBA board of governors, who have systematically undermined the powers of the commissioner and sought to virtually dictate how things should be done, with every incoming chairman getting away with his own idiosyncrasies, while the rest of the membership criticizes him privately but coddles him behind closed boardroom doors.

How else can one explain the board and the Commissioner?s Office allowing Red Bull team manager Tony Chua to sell his star players to the richer teams that were willing to pay the asking price and in so doing undermine one of the touted strengths of the PBA?its competitive balance.

One trade after another was condoned without a whimper from any of the board members. We can understand the silence of the buyers, but what about those who didn?t buy or couldn?t afford to? Did they feel that with the decimation of Red Bull, there was one less competitive team to reckon with which would in effect benefit them in a selfish way?

Whatever happened to the late commissioner Jun Bernardino?s constant call to ?Think League?? Buried yet hopefully not forgotten. But if governors remember, their silence is baffling.

What logic allows the PBA to benefit from the presence of one of the most popular teams in terms of a fan base, TV ratings and gate receipts?Purefoods?but would deny it the fundamental right to vote? What justification is there not to trust the three San Miguel Corp. teams, who are the top three most popular teams in the PBA from directly trading players but sitting idly by and allowing trades to be consummated through willing third parties or the wholesale peddling of star players by Red Bull? Forced to go around the rules to consummate a trade is far worse than a straightforward direct trade. Besides, is the board implying that they don?t trust the management of one of the country?s pre-eminent and most successful corporations to deal fairly and honestly? Come on.

We have witnessed the lowering of the integral qualities of the governors, who once sat as distinguished members of the PBA board during the time that quintessential businessman-sportsman Leo Prieto or the eminent lawyer Rudy Salud served as commissioners.

We have seen the style, character and the elegance of PBA chairmen like Carlos ?Honeyboy? Palanca, Wilfred Steven Uytengsu and in more recent years Butch Alejo almost completely disappear. In their place we have come to learn of wheelers and dealers to whom the fundamental integrity of the league and its values and virtues mean less than nothing.

The litany of grievous errors continues to grow and there doesn?t seem to be one single individual within the board capable or willing to stand up and stem the rot. In many painful ways, it seems to reflect national society where graft and corruption, injustice and the arrogance of power continue to dominate the news as well as our collective lives.

The PBA was once known as the ?Little Big League? and a professional league that was commended by NBA commissioner David Stern as an example for the rest of the nations in the Asia Pacific rim to emulate. Stern praised the manner in which the PBA was run organizationally and the quality and intensity with which the game was played. He even had full-some praise for the television coverage, which for some 20 years was handled by Carlos ?Bobong? Velez?s Vintage Sports and in the last four years, in partnership with Viva under entertainment czar Vic del Rosario.

Regrettably, they were the good old days? the days of the unforgettable Crispa-Toyota rivalry, of hard-court warriors like The Living Legend in Robert Jaworski and Atoy Co, among others, followed in more recent times by Samboy Lim, Allan Caidic, Hector Calma Alvin Patrimonio, Jerry Codi?era and Jojo Lastimosa, to name a few.

When coaches such as Virgilio ?Baby? Dalupan, Dante Silverio, Tommy Manotoc showed flair and more than a touch of innovative genius. And the voices that told the story?the incomparable Joe Cantada and Pinggoy Pengson?and the writers, who penned the masterpieces that reflected not just the games but the quest for human excellence and the impact it had on our collective lives? men like Tony Siddayao, Vic Villafranca, Bert Cuevas and Sim Sotto.

That era is gone and with it style, class and integrity. What we have instead is hardly worth writing about, certainly not in the glowing prose that will do justice to what is right and proper in an effort to protect a sporting institution that appears to be rotting before our very eyes.