By Jerome Lagunzad
Buoyed by the immense success of Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League’s inaugural conference, interested parties continue to knock on the fast-growing regional league’s door.
On Tuesday night, MPBL officials have stamped their approval on three more expansion teams, Marikina, Mandaluyong and Pasay, doubling up the league’s participants to 20 squads for the next conference which gets going on June 12.
MPBL commissioner Kenneth Duremdes said they won’t allow any more teams from Luzon, at least for now. But the league will still open its doors in Visayas and Mindanao as it widens its reach nationwide.
According to Duremdes, a meeting between MPBL officials and interested parties is scheduled tomorrow at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu. Four teams, two each from Cebu by way of Lapu-Lapu City and Cebu City plus Davao Occidental and Davao City, have already confirmed participation.
As early as last week, Marikina, behind former Navotas coach Elvis Tolentino, expressed his group’s interest of forming a team from the “Shoe Capital of the Philippines.”