Thursday, March 27, 2008 MisOr joins Liga Pilipinas By Lynde Salgados
NO LESS than former Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) commissioner Noli Eala bared his presence here Wednesday to introduce another community-based league in the country billed as Liga Pilipinas.
Deemed to be an improvement of the well-tested National Basketball Conference (NBC) and Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA), Liga Pilipinas targets May 20 as its opening day of action with a total of 16 teams from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao greeting its inaugural season.
"This is more than just a basketball league for it is also a better avenue to promote community building," said Eala in a late afternoon sports forum hosted by Misamis Oriental Governor Oscar S. Moreno at Sunriva Restaurant.
Moreno is one of the pioneering groups of people behind the creation of Liga Pilipinas along with Eala, businessmen Michel Lhuillier and Joe Soberano, Cebu City Councilor Yayoy Alcoseba, former NBL commissioner Tito Palma, Olympian shooter Tac Padilla and Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham Tolentino.
For his part, Moreno believes that mass-based cage program with a home-and-away format has a special place in every Filipino's heart as can be gleaned when a particular team saw action before the home crowd.
"Just imagine when our team (Misor Pryce Pharma) once played a crucial match against the visitors, the crowd almost lynched one of the referees who committed a bum call," recalled Moreno of a controversial MVBA tiff at the Xavier University gym here.
In answer to the query of erstwhile dxCO station manager Jonas Bustamante, Eala clarified that Liga Pilipinas has not been borne out of the perceived animosity between him and the PBA, which he led to a huge PBA All-Star Weekend success last year in Cagayan de Oro in tandem with Moreno.
"The Liga Pilipinas will definitely function in a different way with the PBA which has already been there for a long time and had long established its mark. We're still a national league with amateur in scope," Eala said, adding the league will start from a maximum salary cap of P20,000 per player.
Fil-foreigner and ex-pro are allowed to play, but Eala explained only a maximum of two former PBA players will be admitted per team.
"We don't want the league to be the dumping ground of former pro or old players. Fil-foreign cagers can add excitement but we're also after of fresh homeground talents," Eala said.
Four teams from Visayas (Cebu, Bacolod-Negros, Iloilo and Mandaue), and 4 teams from Mindanao (Misamis Oriental, Davao City, Zamboanga City and Ozamiz City) are set to do battle in Liga Pilipinas. And, barring unforeseen glitches, eight more teams from the North and Southern Luzon such as Baguio, Ilocos Sur, Pampanga, Taguig, Tagaytay, Cavite, Batangas, Rizal and Laguna will join them.
