Jun Bernardino
| Emilio Bernardino, Jr. | |
|---|---|
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| Born | November 9, 1947 |
| Died | March 24, 2007 (aged 59) |
| Cause of death | heart attack |
| Occupation | |
Emilio "Jun" Bernardino, Jr. (November 9, 1947 – March 24, 2007) was the fifth commissioner of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was elected as commissioner of the league in the 1993 PBA season and retired in the 2002 PBA season. He served as the commissioner of the Shakey's V-League and of the 2006-07 season of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines).
Bernardino was a member of the Ateneo de Manila High School Blue Eaglets basketball team and played for the University of the Philippines, Diliman Fighting Maroons during his collegiate days. Bernardino graduated with a degree in Sports Management at the University of the Philippines.
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 Sunkist Orange Juicers, Alaska Milkmen and resurgence of the Ginebra San Miguel franchise from 1994 to 1998.
However, with the rise of the newly formed Metropolitan Basketball Association 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 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.
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