There is no doubt that the
Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is the country’s top professional
league for the sport. Such is its indelibility in the Filipino public
consciousness that it managed to survive a serious challenger in the late
90s-early 21st Century from the ABS-CBN-founded MBA league. Still, the
PBA’s Metro Manila-centered and corporate-sponsored format limits exposure of
provincially homegrown talent, though this has been addressed by Sen. Manny Pacquiao’s
semi-pro Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL), which has
geographically-based teams. While there has been some discussion of issues
between the two leagues, relations between PBA and MPBL are mostly cordial, as
exemplified by a recent collaborative meeting between their officials.
The Philippine Star reports that in Makati last Saturday, August 23,
MPBL chair Sen. Manny Pacquiao met with his opposite number in the PBA, Ricky
Vargas along with their league commissioner Willie Marcial, to engage in talks
over how the Philippines’ iconic pro basketball association and the relatively
young semi-pro league can further help one another in the propagation of the
sport without infringing on one another’s activities. The driving theme of
their discussion was the fostering of a co-existential relationship between PBA
and MPBL.
A point of concern for the
Philippine Basketball Association was the possibility of the MPBL to become a
new rival pro league like the defunct MBA. To this, Sen. Pacquiao reiterated
the core value of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League to remain semi-pro
in order to make it accessible for amateur players from outlying provinces to
play either as homegrown talent or in a collegiate capacity. The Senator and
still-active pro boxer expressed his greater concern for keeping betting and
gambling to form over MPBL games, conferences and related trends. This was
affirmed by Maharlika Commissioner and ex-PBA great Kenneth Duremdes, who was
also present at the informal Saturday meeting.
With regards to Maharlika
Pilipinas not trying to steal the Philippine Basketball Association’s
professional thunder, Duremdes remarked, “Our thrust is to develop homegrown
players...We’re giving the opportunity for homegrown players to showcase their
skills so they can be discovered.” He noted that the serious amateur Filipino
basketball player aspires to make it to the PBA and that playing experience in
an organized if not-entirely pro league like the MPBL was the ticket for
developing themselves. Maharlika however has instituted regulations prohibiting
active MPBL players from moving to the PBA until they have finished the current
season on their home league.
Standing PBA regulations in turn
mandates that all PBA draft aspirants must play a minimum seven games (nine if Filipino-foreigners)
in the league’s in-house D-League in order to be eligible for drafting. This
applies even if the player has established his skills in the MPBL. An
unofficial ruling also states that a PBA player switching to the MPBL can
return to the league with the year, but only once, before losing eligibility to
play PBA.
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