By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The San Miguel Beermen already made their first off-season roster overhaul after shipping veterans Terrence Romeo and Vic Manuel in exchange for the younger duo of Terrafirma’s Juami Tiongson and Andreas Cahilig confirmed on November 25, 2024.
It was the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) that confirmed the done deal, followed up by several emotional social media posts coming from both franchises of San Miguel and Terrafirma.
After another painful post-season exit for the Beermen, the organization opted to recruit fresher and younger legs, as both Romeo and Manuel played inconsistent minutes during the PBA Governor’s Cup.
Romeo played heavy minutes during the playoffs but missed a lot of games during the regular season. Meanwhile, Manuel flashed another episode of a season where he was barely inserted in the main rotation of San Miguel in all of their games.
On the other hand, Tiongson and Cahilig are still at the peak of their careers, helping Terrafirma finish several conferences with convincing campaigns especially during the 2023-2024 All-Filipino when they nearly pulled off an upset win over the Beermen.
During that nail-biting series, the underdog Terrafirma team dragged the series to a deciding Game 3, but San Miguel was able to protect their twice-to-beat advantage and moved on to the semifinal stage.
The shocking trade stunned the majority from the San Miguel side after Romeo played a tremendous series in the semifinals of the import-laced conference.
In two games of the best-of-seven series against Barangay Ginebra, Romeo turned back the hands of time and carried the Beermen with his clutch shot-making and insane handles.
However, to everyone’s surprise, he was benched in the final game of the series and only logged in 14 minutes of playing time.
Tiongson is coming off an injury-prone season and is seeking to redeem himself with the Beermen while Cahilig will most likely backstop Fajardo in the paint with his athleticism and shooting ability.
