PBA ex-chief Eala reveals new basketball league

MANILA, Philippines - There's a new basketball league in town, and among its founders is a former commissioner of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) – Noli Eala, a lawyer who was forced to quit his post after being disbarred. The Liga Pilipinas, as the new league is known, will start with a weekend bash, running from May 23 to 25 in three key cities in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The league, Eala said, aims to harness the talents of cagers from different regions, with the 16 teams vying for honors in two conferences in its maiden season. The 16 teams will be divided to represent North and South, with each team composed of 14 players (12 to play), including eight home-grown talents, two ex-pros, and a foreigner who has Filipino blood. "There's still a lot of talent in the regions," Eala said on Tuesday at the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum at Shakey's UN Avenue branch in Ermita, Manila. The North teams would represent Ilocos Sur, Baguio, Pampanga, Taguig, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, and Rizal. The South teams would represent Cebu, Mandaue, Bacolod, Iloilo in the Visayas; and Misamis Oriental, Zamboanga, Davao, and Ozamis in Mindanao. The new league will rely mainly on community support, and will involve the different local government units and corporate sponsors. Eala said that the league is not a copycat of the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA), which was formed in 1998 and lasted for only four years. "I think the MBA became too eager to compete with the PBA," Eala said. "That will never happen with Liga Pilipinas, because how can you even compare yourself with a 33-year-old league? We will not fall into that. We are all students of history here." Eala is counting on a tight crew made up of Rico Meneses (marketing/sales TV affairs), Butch Antonio (basketball operations), Joey Bautista (business development) and Perry Martinez (technical department and player relations). Liga Pilipinas is owned by Pinoy Basketbol Inc. (PBI), the newest member of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas. PBI is a merger of stakeholders National Basketball Conference (NBC), Mindanao-Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA), and Third Force Inc. The PBI board is made up of Tac Padilla as chairman, Gov. Oscar Moreno as vice chairman, and Jose Soberano as treasurer. Eala is a board member, along with Michelle Lhuillier, Tagaytay Mayor Bambol Tolentino, Tito Palma, Andrew Teh, Jean Teh, and three representatives who are team owners from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. - GMANews.TV