17th CECABA season gets underway with a bang | The Freeman

CEBU, Philippines — The comeback season of the Cebu Eastern College Alumni Basketball Association (CECABA) billed as 17th Dr. Chen Lieh Fu Memorial Cup gets underway on Sunday, February 25, at the Cebu Coliseum.

During the simple opening ceremony, CECABA founder Chester Cokaliong paid tribute to the CECSTst hardcourt greats including the legendary Zotico “Tuco” Tan and Anthony Mendoza,  the first Easternian to become a PBA player.

At 78, Tan is still active and even plays for Cokaliong’s team, which is a mixture of cagers from batches ‘60, ‘78, ‘84, and ‘89.

In all, 16 teams scattered in three divisions are seeing action in the three-month tournament, according to CECABA President Joel Chan.

In line with their 25th anniversary celebration, Cokaliong, who was then 38 years old when he founded CECABA in 1999, sweetens the pot by offering P30,000 cash prize for the  champion in each division and P20,000 for the second placers.

Only the Division 2 has a third prize of P10,000 for having the most number of competitors.

Meanwhile, Uriel Zione Tunacao representing Batch ‘95 was crowned as Miss CECABA 2024. Aside from trophy, she also pocketed P5,000.