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Sports

Maiden Sinag Liga Asya-DOJ hoops league tips off

John Bryan Ulanday - Philstar.com
Maiden Sinag Liga Asya-DOJ hoops league tips off
Nueva Ecija, the 2022 MPBL champion, notched its sixth win in as many games to join San Juan and Quezon on top of the standings.
STAR / File

MANILA, Philippines — Sinag Liga Asya launched another tournament for the further growth and development of Philippine basketball, partnering this time around with the Department of Justice and other government agencies in a hoop slugfest starting this weekend.

Nine attached agencies are entered in the inaugural SLA-DOJ Inter-Agency Secretary’s Cup led by the Justice Department itself, firing off Sunday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

Also in the fray are the Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), Bureau of Immigration (BI), Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), Land Registration Authority (LRA), and the Parole and Probation Administration.

“We hope this league will bring us closer together dahil sa isang department kailangan po talaga na iyong camaraderie between the agencies is very strong, for us to be an efficient and effective department,” said DOJ Assistant Secretary Atty. Mico Clavano, emphasizing that no single centavo from the government funds will be utilized in the games.

“Kaya nagpapasalamat po talaga kami sa Sinag Liga Asya dahil pinili nila kami sa chance na makapaglaro at maipakita din ang aming skills. We are very happy and very blessed na nandito po tayo lahat and we are very excited for this tournament to finally get it kick-started”

SLA, organizer of different basketball professional and amateur leagues in the country, will oversee the upstart league led by SLA chairman Rocky Chan, president and chief executive officer Ray Alao, chief operating officer Leo Isaac, Commissioner Rodney Santos and his deputies John Ferriols and EJ Feihl — all former professional basketball standouts. 

“Sana po tuloy-tuloy ang suporta nyo sa endeavor na ito. Umaasa kami na lalaki ng populasyon ng SLA-DOJ Inter-Agency league,” added SLA COO Isaac.

The SLA-DOJ tourney, supported by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla, will be strictly for government employees only aged 28 years old and above.

Ex-professional players will be allowed, only if they happen to be a regular employee in their respective agencies for six months and counting and they’re already retired or inactive for five years.

No height limit will also be imposed while one Fil-Foreign — again as long as they’re under the said agency for six months — will be allowed.

As the host, the DOJ will open the curtains against PCGG Sunday at 6 p.m. as NBI clashes with BI at 8 p.m. A simple parade and opening ceremony, featuring muses of the nine agencies, is set at 2 p.m.

No team will be eliminated after the single-round robin eliminations with the Top 2 teams gaining outright tickets to the semifinals.

The eighth-and ninth-ranked teams will battle in a wildcard to complete the eight-team playoff cast with the third and fourth-seeded squads holding twice-to-beat bonuses against the lower-ranked oppositions.

Both the semifinals and the finals will be a knockout setto for the coveted first SLA-DOJ Inter-Agency title.

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