By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
This might go down as one of the most massive commercial basketball tournaments that will be hosted in Iloilo.
Ilonggo hoops enthusiasts, buckle up, because the Ilonggo Sports and Events Management Services (ISEMS) will be bringing you the most highly-anticipated Ilonggo Basketball League (IBL) Battle of the Champions Season 1!
After a successful staging of the IBL-Santa Barbara Basketball and Sports Development Inc. (SBBSDI) Inter-Town 40-Up Conference, ISEMS, spearheaded by founder and main organizer Rolando Cunanan, is aiming to take the next step and revive the spark in the local basketball scene.
ISEMS already created a huge buzz after revealing the participating teams in the first season of the BOC, including Team CM Farm, a Davao-based club that has 108k followers, one of the most followed Facebook sports pages in social media.
Also visiting Iloilo that will grace the inaugural tournament is Team Khalifa, a well-known club from Tacloban actively participating in open commercial competitions in Eastern Visayas.
Completing the final pool of the competing teams are all Iloilo-based clubs: Team RKF Construction, Team Oking Merchandise, Double 8, and Qualitech.
The tournament will kick off on April 27, 2025, to be held at the Pavia Multipurpose Gym until April 28. The remaining scheduled games from April 29-May 4, 2025, will then be held at the famous Passi City Arena.
Before coming up with organizing such a massive basketball tournament, ISEMS already made more noise after bringing Mav’s Phenomenal Basketball, a famous hoops content creator with three million subscribers on YouTube, to the City of Love.
“After sang Mav’s nga event, isa na gd man ini sa mga goal ta sa ISEMS. Looking sa mga liga ta diri, daw kita na lang cguro sa Iloilo ang need mag step up sa amo na klase level. Why not let’s try to have that kind of tournament diri sa Iloilo?” said Cunanan in an exclusive interview with the Daily Guardian.
In addition, Cunanan is also planning to turn the Battle of the Champions into a yearly event, making it into a qualifying tournament.
As the title says, the participating teams boast a vast stream of achievements in the sport, starting with CM Farm that already amassed countless trophies in Davao, and team RKF recently crowned as the 2025 Sinulog Cup champions.
“We want to improve the level of basketball diri sa Iloilo. Ga pati gd kami nga kung may amo ni klasi exposure ang aton eksena, mas ma angat pa gd ang standards sang aton Ilonggo ballers. It will also create more opportunities para sa aton players,” added Cunanan.
The event will not be possible without ISEMS’ partners, Mr. Ryan Keith Fio of RKF Construction, Mr. Gerald Ganzon of Got Game Clothing, Pavia Local Government Unit (LGU), and Passi LGU.
Let the games begin! It’s time to witness high-level basketball once again!
