Saturday, January 20, 2007 Cesafi to be made ‘6th pillar’ of SBP, Gullas reveals
THE Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) is set to join major Manila-based leagues as one of the “pillars” of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP).
University of the Visayas president and Rep. Eddie Gullas said during yesterday’s press conference that SBP president Manny Pangilinan is set to accept Cesafi as the sixth “pillar” of the group.
“All the other ‘pillars’ are Manila-based. It will be good for SBP to have a provincial-based pillar,” Gullas said.
The SBP is in the process of unifying the various basketball factions in the country in an effort to have Fiba’s (Federecion Internacional Basketball Amateur) ban on the country lifted.
The Philippines has been banned from international competitions since 2005.
As to Cesafi’s place among the other major leagues, Gullas said in the Challenge of Champions, a national tournament pitting different champions all over the country, only a Cesafi team was able to break Manila’s hold of the final four for the past three years and some of the players in the PBA come from Cesafi member-schools.
The five other major stakeholders in the SBP, which is geared to replace the Basketball Association of the Philippines as the national sport association (NSA) for basketball in the country, are the PBA, UAAP, NCAA, PBL and NAASCU.
Aside from Cesafi, Gullas, who also served as vice-president of BAP, also told Pangilinan to invite all the BAP affiliates to SBP’s fold.
Gullas also said Pangilinan is set to meet with Fiba president Patrick Braumann lifted.
Meanwhile, the congressman said he is supporting the move to have Republic Act 6847, the law the created the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), amended.
The amendment, authored by Rep. Renato Unico Jr., seeks to fix the term of the PSC commissioners, who will be nominated by the Philippine Olympic Committee.
“We have to free PSC from too much politics. The term will also be staggered, so they won’t go out at the same time, and puli na pud bag-o,” Gullas said. (ML)
