Alab Pilipinas has found a solid partner in Tanduay Distillers, Inc. as they head into their sophomore campaign in the ASEAN Basketball League, team owner Charlie Dy announced Tuesday afternoon during the league’s presser.
“It will now be called Tanduay Alab Pilipinas [for the 2017-2018 season],” confirmed the long-time sports agent.
PBA D-League’s Tanduay Rhum Masters head coach Lawrence Chongson was also at the event held in Shangri-La at the Fort, and he himself shared that the Tanduay-Alab partnership had been discussed a long time ago.
“Matagal na sa planning board yan eh. Last season pa nga,” said Chongson, the former head mentor of the UE Red Warriors. “Ngayon lang talaga nagkaroon ng magandang timing. Everything naman, timing lang eh.
“For the part of ours sa Tanduay, we thought na ito yung best time na para pumasok.”
There were rumors months ago that Tanduay wanted to join the ABL, but did not push through as Alab owns the rights to represent the Philippines. So for now, the Lucio Tan-owned company is embracing its’ partnership with Alab.
“I think Alab has the rights to represent, so if things fall into place, we can always be Tanduay-Alab, ‘di ba?” said Chongson, “Tingnan natin what happens. Kung magki-click naman siya, kung okay, pwede magtuloy-tuloy naman eh.”
With the team-up, Tanduay is excited on how it will turn out as the season unfolds, as this venture of theirs is their way of testing out the global waters.
“Tanduay has big expectations lalo na sa season na ‘to. Global na ang basketball ngayon eh,” said Chongson.
“Hopefully. Maybe global is the way to go. Maybe. And the only way to find out is if we dip our hands into it.”
