Cebu — The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League, the fastest regional amateur basketball league in the country, launched its MPBL Cares program on Sunday by visiting the victims of the landslide in Naga, Cebu.
The delegation, headed by Commissioner Kenneth Duremdes, took time out to visit the hundreds of families who were cramped inside the Enan Chiong Activity Center where the victims are temporarily sheltered.
Joining Duremdes are the other officials of the league — assistant commissioner Satar Macantal, operations head Zaldy Realubit, team coordinator Emerson Oreta — and the members of the Cebu Sharks headed by coach Ting Manalili and star player Patrick Cabahug.
Also part of the delegation is Atty. Dan Roleda, whose grouped also helped out in giving support to the victims of the landslide. Roleda’s group, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, had been chosen by the league in tying up with the MPBL Cares program.
“Senator Manny Pacquiao is a brother as well in the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Guardians. We talked about the MPBL Cares. He really wanted to reach out to the barangays and distressed people from different communities. The MPBL wants to show it cares. We tied up on this with the Fraternal Order of Eagles. For 40 years, the Fraternal Order of Eagles is doing community works in all fields, medicine, nutrition, even housing. So the Fraternal Order of Eagles is the perfect partner of the MPBL Cares,” said Roleda.
“We are here in Naga, Cebu, to visit and check on the conditions of the landslide victims. Hopefully, Senator Manny Pacquiao will be able to come up with ideas concretely, how we could help these victims. It’s not ideal to give one time support and that’s it. We are working together to have an everlasting solution on this problem. We would like to tell these victims not to lose hope because the entire Filipino nation is with them,” he added.
The MPBL donated food, refreshments and other useful materials to the victims. The league’s staff members also played with the children of the victims and was also entertained by Realubit, who sang with the victims while playing the acoustic guitar.
Cebu, whose team Sharks won a day earlier in the MPBL against Makati, also gave their fellow Cebuanos some encouragement not to lose hope.
Duremdes said that the league will identify other community projects in the future to help out fellow Filipinos who need assistance and care.
Games in the MPBL Datu Cup continues on Tuesday as the league returns in Quezon City. The Black Mamba-backed Capitals, who will have a new home court at the Trinity University of Asia Gym, will play the Bulacan Kuyas-Mighty Sports in the main game at 9 p.m. right after the match between the San Juan Knights-Go-For-Gold and Rizal-Xentro Mall in the first game at 7 p.m.