MANILA, Philippines – Bounty Agro Ventures Inc. (BAVI) president Ronald Mascariñas on Wednesday revealed an initiative to fully finance the Philippine men's national basketball team, similar to how Northern Cement Corp. (NCC) handled the basketball program in the early 1980s.

Currently, BAVI, through its banner product, Chooks-to-Go, has partnered with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas to provide financial support to the Gilas Pilipinas national team until 2020, when the squad will hopefully make it to the Tokyo Olympics.

However, Mascariñas has a bolder plan in mind, inspired by the NCC teams that he grew up watching in the '80s. Then, businessman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr. financed the NCC team that represented the country in several tournaments, including the Jones Cup and the Southeast Asian Games.

"'Yun talaga ang pattern ko. I was younger at the time, at talagang 'di mawala sa isip ko 'yun, na napakalakas na team na 'yun," Mascariñas said of the NCC team that featured naturalized players like current San Antonio Spurs shooting coach Chip Engelland. "I hope we can do something similar to that."

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In this regard, Mascariñas announced Wednesday that Chooks-to-Go "is willing to finance a full-time national team."

"We're making this offer, and if we can work it out with the SBP and the PBA, we're willing to finance full time national team players," he said. "As an incentive for them, we're willing to give the maximum salary to each national player, if that is at all possible."

Mascariñas is willing to finance a full squad of 16 players who can serve as the full-time national team.

"Wherever, kung saan man tournaments 'yan, hindi papalit-palit. We may not have the tallest team, not have the most talented team, but kung ang team natin ay matagal na magkasama, in terms of teamwork, we might have that, that might be the asset of the Philippine team," he explained.

Right now, the Philippines has an ever-expanding pool of players from which national team coach Chot Reyes selects those who will represent the country in various competitions. The backbone of the pool are the 12 Gilas Cadets and one professional player from each of the 12 PBA ball clubs.

Mascariñas said they are willing to "start from scratch" in terms of building the national team that they will finance. "Every year naman, may papasok sa draft, 'di ba? We're willing to take the long road," he said.

However, nothing is set in stone. Mascariñas said he took the opportunity on Wednesday, during the send-off for Gilas Pilipinas ahead of the Jones Cup, to reveal his initiative as a way to present a "pitch" to Gilas team manager Butch Antonio and SBP vice-chairman Cong. Robbie Puno.

"Pinag-usapan lang namin 'yun internally," he admitted. "Andito si Cong. Puno ng SBP, and it was a good time to make that pitch. Actually, 'yung statement ko kanina was really a pitch."

"If that's something that is interesting to the PBA and SBP, then we'll take it from there," he added.

The next step is for Bounty Fresh to engage in talks with the PBA and SBP, according to Mascariñas. Still, the Chook-to-Go boss stressed that they are serious about the initiative and in their commitment to helping the Philippine basketball program.

"Before we committed sa Gilas, we signed a four-year agreement with SBP, pinag-aralan naman namin," he said. "We know what we're going into."

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