Health protocols, training guidelines and a possible restart of the 2020 PBA season are set to be discussed Wednesday in the board of governors' first face-to-face meeting since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak.
Chairman Ricky Vargas and most of the board members are expected to physically attend the meeting at the league office in Libis, Quezon City, though others who want to stay at home have the option to be present online.
"Those who are showing up in the office will observe social distancing. We're meeting in our video review room, which is about 2.5 times bigger than our regular conference room, so we can strictly observe physical distancing," Marcial said in an article on the PBA website.
Suggestions for safety measures in practices are on top of the discussion for the board, which is already looking at steps to get players in game shape after the Philippine government on Thursday shifted the lockdown in the National Capital Region to a more relaxed general community quarantine (GCQ).
Gyms, sports facilities and mass sporting events like basketball are still not allowed to operate under GCQ, but Marcial said the league is in no rush.
"What we're looking at is for the players to be able to return to conditioning exercises," he said. "We're not rushing. Health and safety of all remain our paramount concern."
Before that, the league's entire workforce is expected to undergo COVID-19 testing on Saturday, two days before GCQ is implemented in NCR.
"Of course, we're hoping everybody's negative and that we can all go back to attend our duties -- full force by June," Marcial said in another article on the PBA website.
A thorough six-hour disinfection procedure on Sunday will be instituted before half of the league's personnel will report for work the next day.
"The other half (will report for work) in a rotation process. Once the results come out and if there's transportation again, we'll be back to normal office duty," he said.