Emilio "Jun" Bernardino, Jr. (November 9, 1947 – March 24, 2007) was the fifth commissioner of the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines, composed of twelve company-branded Franchising, franchise teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia ...

(PBA). He was elected as commissioner of the league in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

and retired in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. He served as the commissioner of the

Shakey's V-League The Shakey's V-League was a non-professional volleyball league in the Philippines established in 2004. It began as a women's collegiate league with teams coming from the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), the National Coll ...

and of the 2006-07 season of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA; ) is an athletic association of ten private colleges and universities in Metro Manila, Philippines. Established in 1924, it is the oldest collegiate athletic association in the country. It i ...

Early life

Bernardino was a member of the Ateneo de Manila High School Blue Eaglets basketball team. He played collegiate ball for the

University of the Philippines, Diliman The University of the Philippines Diliman (also called UPD; ), also referred to as UP Diliman, is a State university and college (Philippines), public, coeducational, Research university, research university located in Diliman, Quezon City, Ph ...

Fighting Maroons, and graduated with a degree in Sports Management.

Career

Early days

Bernardino rose through the ranks of the Philippine Basketball Association during the 1970s and 1980s. At first, he was with the coverage team of Vintage Sports and later became the Executive Director of the league. In 1994, he became the fifth commissioner of the PBA replacing Rey Marquez. Bernardino presided the league during the title reigns of the

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Alaska Milkmen The Alaska Aces were a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association since 1986 under the ownership of Alaska Milk Corporation (AMC) and the owner of 14 PBA championships, tied with the Magnolia Hotshots for the third ...

and resurgence of the

Ginebra San Miguel Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. (; GSMI), formerly La Tondeña Distillers, Inc., is a Philippines-based diversified beverage company majority-owned by San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc. History La Tondeña was established in 1902 by Carlos T. Pal ...

franchise from 1994 to 1998.

Fil-Ams and Fil-Sham controversy

However, with the rise of the newly formed

Metropolitan Basketball Association The Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA), also shortened as Metroball, was a professional basketball league in the Philippines that ran for five seasons from 1998 until 2002. The MBA was established to rival the Philippine Basketball Asso ...

in 1998, a regional-based professional league, Bernardino implemented a direct Filipino-American (Fil-Am) rule for each team for the 1999 season. This led to easy signing of players such as Asi Taulava,

Danny Seigle Daniel Charles Yadao Seigle (born June 14, 1976) is a Filipino-American basketball coach and former professional basketball player. He is the former head of basketball operations of the De La Salle Green Archers men's basketball team and a tea ...

and Eric Menk. But, this led to the league entering into controversies of alleged fake Filipino-American players. The PBA had strict rules in which only Filipinos were allowed to play as locals, other nationalities were allowed to play as "imports" and only on designated tournaments, with teams only recruiting one import on their roster. In 2000, rules were implemented on not allowing alleged Fil-Shams (non-Filipinos posing as Filipinos) to play until their cases are resolved. Two incidents happened during the season. The first one surrounded on-court controversy, as Tanduay fielded an already questioned fil-am Earl Sonny Alvarado in Games Two and Three of the All-Filipino Cup semifinal series against the Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs, despite the league's warning. Without Alvarado in Game 1, the Rhum Masters won, and defeated Purefoods in Games 2 and 3 to sweep the series. However, with Alvarado found fake and was deported, Bernardino nullify Tanduay's two victories with Alvarado, resulting in a RTO order, later dropped, by team management. Later that year, he suspended players indefinitely those who have not prove their Filipino citizenship that began in the 2000 Commissioners Cup. Those suspended were

, Chris Jackson, Rudy Hatfield and Menk, among others. However, Menk would suffer the worst as he spend more than a year to prove his case until the latter stages of the 2001 season.

Latter years

In Bernardino's latter years in the PBA, two expansion franchises, Tanduay and

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

entered the league in 1999 and 2000, respectively, bringing the league number from eight to 10. The

San Miguel Beermen The San Miguel Beermen are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). It is one of three PBA clubs owned by the San Miguel Corporation group of companies along with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Magnolia ...

rose into power as the league's new dynasty, winning five titles in two seasons. In 2001, Bernardino went through minor health problems and was forced to temporarily hand the reins to deputy commissioner Sonny Barrios to recuperate. In 2002, he announced that he was stepping aside as commissioner after the end of the season. His successor was Viva TV sports anchor and lawyer, Noli Eala.

After the PBA

In 2004, Bernardino, along with Ricky Palou and other former PBA executives, formed Sports Vision Management and was responsible for the formation of the school-themed

that began in 2004. In 2006, he was the commissioner of the 82nd NCAA season, the first time in four years he was commissioner of a basketball tournament. He was also considered to be the executive director of the

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas () or the SBP is the national sport association for basketball in the Philippines, formed from the merging of the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) and Pilipinas Basketball (PB). It was formed ...

Death

Jun Bernardino died at 1:30 a.m. on March 24, 2007 at the Makati Medical Center, from a heart attack after organizing a surprise birthday celebration for Philippine basketball pioneer Moying Martelino. As a tribute to Bernardino, the league renamed the Perpetual Trophy, the award given to the champions of the PBA Philippine Cup as the Jun Bernardino Trophy. All 10 teams also worn a black patch in their uniforms during the 2007 PBA Fiesta Conference as a tribute while commemorating the life and times of the late commissioner in a tribute during the PBA Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The Shakey's V-League also paid tribute to Bernardino during the opening rites of the tournament in May.

References

External links

PBA Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernardino, Jun 1947 births 2007 deaths Filipino men's basketball players Philippine Basketball Association executives Ateneo de Manila University alumni UP Fighting Maroons men's basketball players 20th-century Filipino sportsmen