Grateful CESAFI lauds Moalboal for holding inter-collegiate hoop

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) expressed its gratitude to Moalboal Mayor Inocentes Cabaron for tapping the league for the town’s first inter-collegiate baketball tournament set next month.

“We are very grateful to Moalboal for inviting CESAFI for this tournament,” said CESAFI deputy commissioner Danny Duran said during the press conference for the 1st Mayor Titing Cabaron Invitational Inter-Collegiate Basketball Tournament at the Moalboal municipal hall recently. “We are hoping that this will be a successful tournament.”

Mayor Cabaron, a sportsman who regularly plays tennis, said he decided to push for an inter-collegiate cage wars to give residents a chance to witness first-class hardcourt action.

“This is why I’m asking the coaches and the teams to play at your best,” he said.

University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters assistant coach Jerry Abuyabor said what Moalboal is doing will benefit Cebu players in the long run.

UC will be joined by the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers, Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats, University of San Jose-Recoletos (UJ-R) Jaguars, and the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Panthers in the event that will kick off on April 14.

“This (Moalboal tournament) gives players more chances to improve themselves, and hopefully, one of them will get to the PBA,” Abuyabor said.”Though having commercial tournaments is also good, I’m hoping other towns will also copy Moalboal and hold inter-collegiate tournaments.”

Mayor Cabaron echoed the sentiment and is optimistic that other towns will adopt the Moalboal model.

“I am hoping for the coaches and teams’ cooperation to make this successful, to give our residents an entertaining tournament because after this, I’m sure the other towns will also copy this,” Mayor Cabaron said.

The coaches promised to get their players to be in their good behavior and said they will all be aiming for the champion’s purse of P200,000, the biggest for an inter-collegiate tournament in Cebu.

“I know the teams are not after the money, they are after the prestige and honor of winning for their schools,” said Mayor Cabaron, who was joined by sports committee members Romeo Pableo, Vivencio Delgado, Josal Balicoco and Rodolpho Borja, the Tubu Masters team owner, during the meeting with the coaches.

Basketball is just one of the series of sports events initiated by Mayor Cabaron for the town fiesta. — EBV from PR