THERE is no specific rule prohibiting PBA governors from sitting on the team bench during games.
The practice of team executives or even team owners as some of the past cases may be, of being included as part of the bench has actually been ingrained even during the early days of the league.
Commissioner Willie Marcial remembered the likes of the late Crispa owner Danny Floro and Nikki Coseteng of the family owned Noritake Mariwasa were among those prominently seen regularly sitting on the team bench.
"Yan naalala ko laging nakaupo sa bench ng teams nila yan," said Marcial of the amiable Crispa team owner and the elegant, first ever lady team manager in PBA history.
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"Kaya inabutan na natin yan," added the commissioner, who also stressed the absence of any provision in the league preventing governors from joining the team on the bench.
The long debated issue resurfaced following the verbal spat that marred Game 4 of the Commissioners Cup semifinals series between Barangay Ginebra and Rain or Shine.
Elasto Painters coach Yeng Guiao felt Barangay Ginebra governor Alfrancis Chua had been intimidating game officials with his presence and verbal confrontation with the referees since the start of the series.
With the exception of Board chairman Ricky Vargas, all of the current governors are part of their respective team bench.
But while the likes of Floro and Coseteng once sat on their respective team benches, ball club owners eventually learned to take the backseat as time went by as in the cases of Jaime Zobel de Ayala (Purefoods and She'll), Joey Concepcion (Swift), George Chua (Red Bull), Danding Cojuangco (San Miguel), Raymund Yu and Terry Que (Rain or Shine), Manny V. Pangilinan (TNT), among others.
There are also those who would be sitting on the bench from time to time like Dioceldo Sy (Blackwater) and the late Bong Tan (Tanduay).
At the same time, governors are also not immune from being meted by technical fouls, citing two cases in the past where two top team officials in Raymond Zorilla and Rene Pardo were assessed with technicals by the referees.
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