BY NOLI CORTEZ

RENAULD "Sonny" Barrios doesn’t want the league he has served for more than 18 years to continue without a permanent commissioner, so he has accepted the job.

Barrios announced this yesterday, lifting the veil of apprehension that has been draped over the league since Noli Eala resigned last August.

Hour after announcing decision to the pro league’s executive committee composed of chairman Tony Chua, vice-chairman Joaqui Trillo and treasurer Robert Non, as well as past chairman Ricky Vargas, he formally bared his acceptance before the media in a press conference at the Astrodome.

"I have informed them that I am making myself available even after the Philippine Cup, which was the original engagement of mine as officer-in-charge," said Barrios. "Henceforth, I will be commissioner and serve under the pleasure of the board."

Barrios, 59, first served the league in 1984, retired in 2002, and cast his lot for the commissionership before the 2003-04 season. The board, however, chose Eala.

When Eala left, Barrios was tapped to serve as OIC for the Philippine Cup, with the understanding he will then leave to attend to a family business in Sacramento, California, right after the conference. He was offered the post when the PBA Board failed to choose between lawyer Chito Salud and businessman Lambert Ramos last Thursday.

Barrios related he has consulted his family and friends, and maintained they were very supportive.

But his decision to accept the job was influenced mostly by the question of what will happen to the PBA without a commissioner.

"I think it was practically incumbent upon me to accept. I don’t want the (Commissioner’s) Office to be in disarray and headless and I don’t have no other option of a personality to recommend to the board as OIC," he said.

As such, Barrios is now set on holding on to the post.

"I will have no fixed term, as long as it’s pleasurable to them (governors) and I enjoy their trust and confidence. I hope that clarifies the pending issue regarding the commissionership and I look forward to working with you in days, maybe years ahead," he said.

Prior to that, however, he has asked the governors to give him time after the Philippine Cup to visit the family project, a care home for the developmentally disabled. "Kailangang-kailangan kasing puntahan at alalayan ang project doon. Bago pa lang kasi and still experiencing birth pains," he explained.

Otherwise, there is little that will detract him from seeing to the league’s current daily operations, as well as charting the PBA path in the coming years. Already, he bared he is inclined to propose a return to the three-conference-a-year format abandoned starting with the 2006 season. On Monday, he will be present during a board meeting that will primarily tackle the league’s next television broadcast partner, as well as the relationships between the PBA’s programs and those of the BAP-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.