Cebu league to play vital role in SBP

Businessman-sportsman Manny V. Pangilinan, one of the key players of Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas has assured Congressman Eddie Gullas, a noted Cebu basketball patron, that the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) will play a vital role in SBP once the International Amateur Basketball Federation (FIBA) suspension on Philippine basketball is lifted.

"I talked to Mr. Pangilinan a few days ago and he told me that the CESAFI will be the sixth pillar of SBP," said Gullas. The other members of the unified cage body include the PBA, PBL, NCAA, UAAP and NAASCU.

"It would be good for the image of the SBP if it has a provincial league as one of its pillars and the CESAFI is the premiere collegiate league in the country outside of Manila. Some of the products of CESAFI, in fact, were able to make it to the PBA," added Gullas.

Gullas has earlier urged the CESAFI to support the initiatives of Pangilinan and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada to form the SBP, which had been reaching out to various sectors to find for possible ways to unify RP basketball under its fold.

As part of the unification process, a unity congress has been set on Feb. 5 for all the major stakeholders of the sport.

The other day, Pangilinan and Estrada left for Geneva, Switzerland to meet with FIBA president Bob Elphinston and secretary-general Patrick Baumann in an effort to convince the FIBA to lift its ban on Philippine basketball.

Pangilinan and Estrada were accompanied by PBA chairman Ricky Vargas of Talk ‘N Txt Phone Pals and commissioner Noli Eala.

"Hopefully the suspension will be lifted and we will again be a FIBA member of good standing," said Gullas

Once the suspension will be lifted, the Philippines hopes to field a team to the Southeast Asia Basketball Association (SEABA) Championships this July in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The SEABA tilt serves as the qualifying round for the Asian Championships later this year in Saitama, Japan wherein the top two winners will earn berths to the basketball event in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.