MPBL founder Manny Pacquiao. Photo by Randolph B. Leongson
Sen. Manny Pacquiao finally unveiled his Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) Thursday evening, raffling off cars and motorcycles to patron ticket holders and watching Aric del Rosario return to coaching on the saddle of victory.
The turnout was enough to embolden Pacquiao to go after even bigger goals—like turning the MPBL into the country’s version of the NBA.
“Once [the league] grows, it will be like the NBA,” Pacquiao said in Filipino. “If they have East and West, here we can have North and South.”
“There are lots of cities that wanted to join,” he added. Pacquiao said the queue of teams knocking on the MPBL door was enough for a 20-squad roster but league organizers opted to limit the participating teams to just 10. “Unfortunately, we already had a program set. But they’re welcome to join the next conference.
The MPBL Anta Rajah Cup tipped off at the Big Dome with Daniel de Guzman of Parañaque scoring the league’s first basket. The Patriots went on to score the inaugural victory, 70-60, over the Caloocan Supremos.
Gab Dagangon led the way with 20 points and nine rebounds as Parañaque gifted the well-loved Del Rosario a win to mark his return to coaching.
Pacquiao, the eight-division boxing champion, believes that the MPBL do for boxing what weekly prizefights did for his boxing career.
“I got into boxing when I was young because weekly, there were fights staged in our place. I see it the same way here, that we can do that in basketball,” said the 39-year-old Pacquiao. “In time, we can discover good basketball players because anybody can play here.”