Bacolod cager joins RP five in Korea stint

By Henry C. Villalva
Inquirer
October 12, 2007

Former University of St. La Salle high school varsity standout Jeffrey Chan, a member of former UAAP titlist Far Eastern University Tamaraws has joined the Harbour Centre-backed Philippine basketball team which enters the second phase of its preparations for the 24th Southeast Asian Games which departed yesterday for Seoul, South Korea to see action in a series of exhibition games.

The team, mentored by former Negros Slashers head coach Junel Baculi, is topbilled by Jason Castro, back-to-back Philippine Basketball League (PBL) MVP, and three-point artists Patrick Cabahug of Toyota Balintawak and Jonathan Fernandez of National University.

Others in the training team are UAAP MVP Jervy Cruz of University of Santo Tomas, Chad Alonzo, Beau Belga, Erick dela Cuesta, Eugene Tan, Boyet Bautista, Alex Crisano, and Allan Salansang.

Baculi, however, confirmned to SunStar Bacolod yesterday the lineup may still be altered prior to the opening game of the SEAG since team officials still hope to include several top UAAP players in the team.
"We hope to include the likes of La Salle's Rico Maierhofer and TY Tang to add to JV Casio and Cholo Villanueva who are already in the list," Baculi, who was the first to mentor the Negros Slashers in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA), said.

Baculi said the nationals are scheduled to meet Myungi University on Thursday, then they will face Yonsei University on Friday, Hangyang Uniiversity on Saturday and Kyunghee University on Monday.

"The team is likewise slated to play against a group of Filipino migrant workers on Sunday. The core of the 12-man training team will represent the country in the December 6-16 24th Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.