“We will bring back the days where basketball in the southern side (VisMin) of the country was awesome. When people came in droves to watch the games and homegrown players were given a fair opportunity to play for their cities and provinces,” said Hontiveros.

Hontiveros was a standout for University of Cebu Webmasters during his collegiate career and committed to Cebu Gems of the discontinued Metropolitan Basketball Association.

He was drafted for the PBA in 2000 winning three titles and was a 13-time PBA All-Star. Moreover, he also donned the national colors for the Philippine Team.

Hontiveros is the incumbent councilor of Cebu’s second district.

During the first virtual conference of the league led by COO Rocky Chan and team representatives, they are planning to open the season on April 9 in a bubble set-up.

Cebu City, Mandaue City (KCS), Talisay (MJAS) and Lapu-Lapu City in the Visayas and teams from Zamboanga City, Pagadian City (Explorers), Sindangan, and Roxas-Zamboanga del Norte (Vanguards) in the Mindanao are the teams confirmed to take part in the upcoming season, League Secretary-General Chelito ‘Marvin’ Caro said.

“Many teams already sent a letter of intent but we will just limit (participants) in the first conference,” said COO Rocky Chan. 

“We want to provide a venue for our future stars in Visayas and Mindanao and promote sports tourism in the regions.”

Cebu City and Zamboanga will host the Visayas and Mindanao leg respectively with elimination rounds being held at their respective regions to lessen the teams’ expenses.

To promote grassroots development from each city, each team will be required to have at least six homegrown players.

Foreign reinforcements will be made available at the league’s second conference.