MPBL: Players returning from VisMin Cup to be called 'ex-pros'

The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) has sent an apparent warning to its players and teams joining the Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup, another regional league albeit a professional one.
In the Memorandum No. 29-2021 dated April 1, Thursday, MPBL commissioner Kenneth Duremdes said that "any team or player who will participate in the forthcoming VisMin Super Cup Visayas Leg or any other professional league shall be considered as professionals."
As such, "they will be considered as ex-pros" and will be subjected to the limitations set by the rules and by-laws of the league founded by Sen. Manny Pacquiao.
The MPBL, which retained its semi-professional status despite calls to turn pro, lets its teams to sign up to seven ex-pros, with only five of those allowed to play each game.
With the memorandum, a number of MPBL players and squads set to take part in the VisMin Super Cup will be heavily affected.
After losing in the MPBL Lakan Cup South Division Finals by default due to four positive cases of COVID-19, Basilan decided to go pro and join the new regional basketball league.
Basilan also changed its moniker from Steel to Peace Riders.
The core of the Valenzuela Classic earlier decided to take its act to the VisMin Cup under the MJAS Zenith Talisay Aquastars banner.
The VisMin Cup is slated to fire off on April 9 starting with the Visayas Leg in Alcantara, Cebu while the Mindanao Leg is set to begin in May.
Meanwhile, a team official from one of the VisMin teams said Monday that they made an appeal to Duremdes as early as January to relax the league’s rule on the ‘professional’ status of players.
“When the league crafted that rule, it was meant for PBA players as ‘pros’ because they are elite players. Who would have thought that there is a league during this pandemic that offers livelihood to players hoping to earn money for their families,” said the source who asked not to be named.
The same source said the MPBL did not respond to their appeal, and that the ruling will not help players struggling during this health and economic crisis.