MANILA – Western Visayas (WV) will be well represented in the 2020 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup, as 18 players who trace their roots from the region will be part of the opening day lineup of the 12 teams.
Based on the lineup released by PBA on Tuesday, Negros Occidental has the most players from Region 6 with 10, mostly from Bacolod City, followed by Iloilo City with six, while the provinces of Antique and Aklan have one each.
Meralco Bolts has three WV-based players. They are Pontevedra-native Raymar Jose, Bacolod City-native Reynel Hugnatan and Ilonggo Antonio Jose Caram.
The NLEX Road Warriors share the same number in Ilonggos Kiefer Ravena and Jericho Cruz, with Bago City’s Raul Soyud.
Meanwhile, the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings has two in the roster in Jeffrei Chan (Bacolod City) and Joe Devance (Escalante City), while Columbian Dyip has Andreas Cahilig (Aklan) and John Paul Calvo (Silay City).
NorthPort Batang Pier and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters are also on the same digit with Ginebra. The former has Bacolodnon LA Revilla and Ilonggo Juan Poalo Taha, while the latter has Escalante City’s James Yap and Ilonggo Clint Doliguez.
Other WV-based players in the Philippine Cup are Blackwater Elite’s Rey Mark Belo (Antique), Talk N’ Text KaTropa’s Kib Montalbo (Bacolod City), Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters’ Justin Chua (Bacolod City) and San Miguel Beermen’s Paul Zamar (Iloilo City)./PN
