By Rey Joble
IN the history of basketball, few women proved that they could also stood out in a game usually being managed by men.
Jeanie Buss, daughter of the late Dr. Jerry Buss, inherited the ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers from his dad and for more than a decade, she’s been running show time at the front office, being the controlling owner and president of one of the most fabled teams in the NBA.
Before she became Senator of the Republic of the Philippines, Nikki Coseteng was helping her father, the late Emerson Coseteng, the founding president of the PBA, running Mariwasa. Nikki became team manager then later on assumed ownership of the squad that had undergone several name changes — from Mariwasa to Noritake, to Mariwasa Honda to Galerie Dominique Artistas.
To see another woman running the basketball affairs isn’t surprising at all.
Meet Claudine Bautista, the young, dynamic team owner of the Davao Occidental Tigers-Cocolife in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) and to draw comparison from Buss and the other women team owners was really flattering.
Davao Occidental is actually the ‘youngest’ province in the country and elected their local officials for the first time in 2016.
“I’ve always been involved in sports. I used to do triathlon, I shoot, and when I was young, my dad taught me how to play basketball and billiards. I never really taught of gender being a detriment in any sports. If you look at it LA Lakers is owned by a woman, Jeanie Buss. It’s actually flattering knowing how people get surprised that the team is owned by a woman,” Ms. Bautista told BusinessWorld.
“I never really knew that LA Lakers was owned by a woman, it was our coaches who told me that and tease me about it. When my dad said we were joining MPBL, he gave me authority with everything in our team. I always take every responsibility as a challenge. My work entails me to deal with men most of the time and I’ve never been intimidated by it well except when it’s dealing with the President (Rodrigo Duterte).”
Ms. Bautista isn’t just your typical team owner who inherited the basketball genes from her dad, Governor Claude Bautista of Davao Occidental, who used to be a former varsity player. The young Bautista worked as a social worker and loves to do community services.
“I was a social worker before. I’ve always been involved with communities. I find it really fulfilling,” added Ms. Bautista. “I’m Ambassadress for Habitat for Humanity Davao and Caraga Region, I volunteered in building houses in Cagayan before and then during my birthday, I’d ask my parents and titos, titas to help me build classrooms for marginalized communities.”
But make no mistake about it, Ms. Bautista has a very impressive resume outside of basketball and community works.
She graduated with a degree in Hospitality Management from Glion Institute of Higher Education, Switzerland. She also finished her BS Entrepreneurship from Ateneo De Davao then took and completed International Politics from Kings College, London and culinary from Italian Culinary Institute, Italy.
Using her involvement in community works, her hospitality and graciousness she received from her family, Ms. Bautista made sure that the first hosting job of Davao Occidental in the MPBL will be a grander one.
There, Davao Occidental made everybody comfortable, from the MPBL officials headed by league founder and Senator Manny Pacquiao and PBA legend and current commissioner Kenneth Duremdes and their staff all the way to its rival teams.
“For the preparation, we had a fellowship night in a Hawaiian theme. It happened on the 29th, a day before the game. My aim was to make other teams — Rizal, Pasig, and Valenzuela — to feel welcome in our city. We also had raffles for the players and the coaches. It was a way for everyone to get to know each other off the court and create friendship amongst the teams,” said Ms. Bautista.
“I wanted them to feel very welcome here despite the fact that we will be playing against each other. But then again, I believe that the experience we all had, the friendship we have created amongst the other teams is more valuable than the expenses I had in hosting the event and for me that is more rewarding.”
Aside from hosting the first official game in the Mindanao region, Davao Occidental also did a basketball clinic for high school students called “Project Big Brother.”
“The children are high school students from the five municipalities of Davao Occidental — Sta. Maria, Malita, Don Marcelino, Jose Abad Santos and Sarangani,” added Ms. Bautista. “It was my initiative and was supported by our sponsor Cocolife. We had a meeting with all our sponsors a month ago and we came out with corporate social responsibility projects that would benefit the people of Davao Occidental mainly. This is one of the CSR projects the Davao Occidental Tigers have and we have other activities lined up gearing towards helping communities in the Province.”

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