PBA Commissioner Chito Salud has reiterated their desire to have only the best set of referees
officiating the games for the Finals. From their original pool of 20 at the start of the season,
the group was trimmed to 12 in the playoffs, then three were removed based on their performance in the tourney so far.

Come the PBA Finals which begin this Saturday in Victorias City, only eight referees will be kept
to officiate the best-of-7 series between the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters and the San Miguel
Beermen.

According to PBA Operations chief and Technical Director Rickie Santos, in trimming down the pool of referees, they have considered the following factors -- appreciation of the rules, decisiveness, and judgement.

“It’s still possible that this will be trimmed further to 7 or even 6,” Santos revealed.

So far though, the pool is a mix of veterans and new and promising game officials.

“The veteran referees are there for stability because they’re suited to handling
pressure-packed games”, shares Santos. “We’re mixing in some of the promising new faces we
have so they can get the needed experience”.

The ones that have made the cut, considered as the cream of the crop, include two-time Referee of the Year Boy Cruz (’04-’05 and 05’-’06 seasons), last year’s Referee of the Year Manolito Quilingen, and other Class A referees such as Art Herrera, Peter Balao, Nestor Sambrano and Noy Guevarra.

The newer faces like Jimmy Mariano and Sherwin Pineda who just debuted in the PBA last season have also shown exceptional abilities and have made the grade.

Commissioner Salud reiterates it is the players which will decide the outcome and the referees will be a non-factor.

“These players have been playing their hearts out for the last three months. Their coaches have been designing their plays for the last three months. We have to give them the best referees out there. We owe it to the teams and we owe it to the fans,” said Salud.