CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) will resume with an invitational tournament before the year ends.
The planned resumption of the league was officially announced by its commissioner, Kenneth Duremdes on Sunday, October 24, 2021.
Also, on Monday, October 25, Chooks-to-Go of sports patron Ronald Mascariñas announced that they forged a new partnership with the MPBL.
From its title sponsor, Chooks-to-Go will be handling MPBL’s basketball operations.
Mascariñas and presidential aspirant and senator Manny Pacquiao formalized their new partnership on Sunday evening.
“I am elated to have this new partnership given that Chooks-to-Go is a very organized organization especially in basketball,” said Sen. Pacquiao.
“I saw the world-class event of their one-day invitational league in San Fernando and I was impressed,” he continued regarding the recently-concluded Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 Invitational tournament the league held last Wednesday in San Fernando, Pampanga. “They are the only group in partnership with FIBA 3×3 in the country. With that, they basically know what they are doing.
“I am thankful to Kuya Ronald and I can only entrust the MPBL to Chooks-to-Go.”
In 2019, Chooks-to-Go and MPBL signed a five-year contract as the league’s title sponsor.
According to Mascariñas, they decided to accept the task to handle MPBL’s basketball operations since Pacquiao is busy for his presidential campaign.
“Being a presidential candidate is no easy task and we understand the busy schedule of the senator,” said Mascariñas.
“That is why we accepted the gargantuan responsibility to take over the full basketball operations of the MPBL. We will work hand in hand with Commissioner Kenneth [Duremdes] in this endeavor.”
Recently, Chooks-to-Go organized a 3×3 invitational tournament in Pampanga participated by 12 teams.
Despite the bigger task in MPBL, Chooks-to-Go remains committed to its other supported leagues such as the Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup and the National Basketball League-Pilipinas.
/bmjo