PLDT Joins as Corporate Sponsor of Collegiate Champions League

Reynaldo D. Gamboa, Chairman, Philippine Collegiate Champions League, announced that PLDT has joined SMART and Fil-Oil Flying V of the Villavicencio group of companies as major corporate supporters of the Philippine Collegiate Championship games. “The Philippine Collegiate Championship is the one, true national championship and the financial backing extended by these corporate entities is a major boost to the development of collegiate basketball in the country,” Gamboa said.

According to Gamboa, the sponsorship of PLDT and SMART is the fulfillment of the commitment made by M. V. Pagilinan, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) President, to promote and institutionalize a genuine national collegiate basketball tournament that involves teams from the more popular leagues in Metro-Manila and from all localities where collegiate basketball leagues are organized.

The Philippine Collegiate Championship is a nationwide multi-level competition starting with the “mother league” games. The various leagues’ winning teams will advance to the regional, zonal and the final phase, the “Sweet 16” Final Challenge in Manila. “This tournament provides teams and players the opportunity to look beyond their “mother leagues” and aim for higher achievements such as the regional and zonal championship and the chance to be crowned as the Philippine champion,” added Gamboa.

As part of their sponsorship support, SMART and PLDT will be conducting promotional activities in the localities where the regional and zonal championships will be held. FilOil Flying V of the Villavicencio group of companies, on the other hand, is the title sponsor of the “Sweet 16” Final Challenge and provides grants for scholarship and athletic facilities to the top four finalists.

As of date, there are 212 teams from nine regional areas nationwide that are participating in the search for the best collegiate teams in the country. These teams are playing in 27 “mother leagues” that include the major leagues in Metro-Manila, the UAAP, NCAA, NAASCU, CUSA, and the CESAFI of Cebu City.

Aside from the prestige of being crowned national champion, schools can also look forward to over P 2 million pesos worth of scholarships and other grants and prizes at stake in the regional, zonal and national championships. The grants will be a big incentive especially for schools with limited funds for sports development.

The Philippine Collegiate Champion will get P500,000.00 in grants from FilOil Flying V and will represent the country to the 2009 Universiade Games to be held in Serbia. The Universiade brings together the top school teams and athletes from around the world in a competition similar to the Olympics.