PBL, Liga to stage joint tournament

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Basketball League (PBL), the country’s premiere amateur commercial league, and La Liga Pilipinas, the country’s biggest regional league, yesterday agreed to hold its first-ever joint tournament by early June, preparatory to a long-term agreement to merge the two entities.

A Memorandum of Agreement was signed between chairman Abundio “Ding” Camua of Pascual Laboratories and San Miguel Corporation’s Robert Non, representing the PBL and Pinoy Basketball, Inc.’s (Liga) CEO Noli Eala and witnessed by PBA chairman Angelito Alvarez and SBP deputy executive director Bernardo Atienza.

Officials of both leagues were happy at getting over all the initial hurdles of coming together after several months of negotiations and finally forging a tie-up for the tournament.

 “This is a great day for local basketball. Not only will this ensure the continued existence of a strong non-amateur league from where the PBA can draw its talents from, this also enables both the PBL and Liga to continue with their programs together,” said Alvarez.

For their part, Eala and Camua shared optimism that the differences between the two leagues can be addressed and bridged in the shortest possible time, given that the teams from both leagues are already very anxious to play. 

 The inaugural tournament is slated to begin on June 5 with anywhere from seven to as many as 12 teams being involved from both leagues.

An executive committee, composed of Alvarez, Camua, Joaquin “Chito” Loyzaga (SMC) and Virgilio Angeles (Toyota Otis) representing the PBL as well as Eala, Gov. Oscar Moreno (MisOr) and Joe Soberano (Mandaue) representing Liga Pilipinas, was named to oversee the project. Working committees were also formed to accomplish the many tasks that need to be done in the melding of the two leagues.