Saturday, February 03, 2007 Cebu cage leaders to attend unity meet
CEBUANO basketball luminaries will be bring up the cause of Cebu during the Unity Congress called by the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas (SBP) on Monday at the Dusit Hotel in Manila.
Multi-titled coach and Cebu City Councilor Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba and patron Michel Lhuillier are among the Cebuanos invited to join the congress, which aimed at unifying all basketball stakeholders in the country.
Alcoseba and Lhuillier, who left their respective posts in the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) in favor of the SBP, both believe what they would bring to the congress would be beneficial to the tournaments in Cebu and its players.
“I told Ricky Vargas that we would join the unity group if they could address our concerns. We would like to ensure that Cebuano talents would not be left out and that Cebu leagues would be given attention and not just the UAAP or the NCAA. If we are going to look at it, many talents in Manila came from either the Visayas or Mindanao,” Alcoseba said.
Attention
“That is why we asked them to give attention to the leagues in the Visayas and Mindanao because in the end our main thrust is for the good of the sport,” he added.
Lhuillier and Alcoseba were replaced by Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte and Calbayog City Mayor Cenon Sarmiento as chairman and vice president for the Visayas, respectively, during the 75th BAP national congress at the Century Park Sheraton Hotel last Saturday.
Reportedly, International Basketball Federation (Fiba) secretary general Patrick Baumann himself will come and observe the proceedings of the congress, which is being called by Manny V. Pangilinan.
“It’s high time to end this bickering and we saw this opportunity to include Cebu as their major area of concern not just the Manila or Luzon players,” Alcoseba continued.
On Monday, Lhuillier and Alcoseba’s pet projects— the Mindanao-Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA) and the Visayas Amateur Athletic Association (VAAA)— will also become stakeholders in the SBP.
However, they will not represent any of the two organizations as they had delegated it to the current officials.
MVBA will be represented by its chairman and Misamis Oriental governor Oscar Moreno, while VAAA will be represented by its president Doroteo Salazar of Salazar Colleges of Science and Institute of Technology. (RCM)
