Liga Pilipinas merges 2 regional cage tourneys

Eala resurfaces
By Francis Ochoa | Inquirer
First Posted 03:07am (Mla time) 10/17/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- A new basketball league, one which casts a bright eye at the future and a wary one at the past, was born Tuesday following the announcement that two regional basketball tournaments have decided to merge.

It will be called Liga Pilipinas.

And at the forefront of the merger is a basketball personality who knows a thing or two about running a league and unifying two separate entities.

“Liga Pilipinas will be the new face of the effort to unify regional basketball in the country,” said Noli Eala, former Philippine Basketball Association commissioner and one of the key personalities behind the merger of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and the Basketball Association of the Philippines.

The league will be formed on a merger between the Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA) and the National Basketball Conference (NBC). The two leagues have agreed to work toward a goal that will actually call for the dissolution of their tournaments.

“There’s no use really having two separate leagues to operate under a similar purpose,” said Olympian Nathaniel “Tac” Padilla.

Also present during the launch were Yayoy Alcoseba and Willie Generalao, who represented the MVBA, Tagaytay Mayor Bambol Tolentino and Tito Palma of the NBC, Misamis Oriental Gov. Oscar Moreno and Andrew Te, part of the organizing group.

The idea of a regional basketball tournament was first put to test by the Metropolitan Basketball Association in 1998. But the MBA crumbled five years later under the weight of excessive spending.

“We do not want to be hounded by mistakes of the past,” Eala said. “We do not want to commit the same follies.”

Although the league will start in the first quarter next year, several principles have already been agreed upon, among which is to curb expenditures.

Eala said a team in the new league will cost less than maintaining a Philippine Basketball League squad. In fact, running the league will cost less than half of what it takes to maintain a PBA squad for a year.

“I see it working on an annual budget of P10 to 12 million,” Eala said. “But I always try to find ways to cut costs so there’s a chance we can really, really go lower than that.”