MANILA – Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) does not recognize the new Bacolod squad as the city’s representative in the upcoming season.
In an official statement, the Manny Pacquiao-founded league stated there is currently no active squad representing Bacolod City for the 2025 season.
“The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League does not recognize any representatives from Bacolod franchise as of date,” the league said in a statement.
“Any agreement with any person/group/entity claiming to be representatives of the Bacolod franchise will not be honored by the League,” it added.
Recently, a certain new Bacolod team emerged online and conducted tryouts to reportedly form their team for the upcoming MPBL season.
Among the players that already agreed to play for the new Bacolod team are former PBA player Leo Najorda and Genmar Bragais.
Last season, Bacolod City was represented by Bacolod City of Smiles. They only won one of their 28 matches.
Bacolod City of Smiles, for its part, has distanced itself from the new Bacolod team, saying that they are not connected to the latter.
“Please be advised that we are not connected to, nor affiliated with, any groups or pages that may be circulating information about the Bacolod Team,” the squad said.
“Any announcements or information about tryouts or team-related activities made outside of this official page should be disregarded,” the team added./PN
