By ADRIAN STEWART CO

The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) does not recognize a new Bacolod squad as the city’s representative for the upcoming season.

In an official statement, the Manny Pacquiao-founded league stated that there is currently no active squad representing Bacolod City for this year.

“The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League does not recognize any representatives from Bacolod franchise as of date,” the league said in a statement.

“Any agreement with any person/group/entity claiming to be representatives of the Bacolod franchise will not be honored by the league,” it added.

Recently, a certain new Bacolod squad emerged online, and conducted tryouts to reportedly form their team for the upcoming MPBL Season.

Among the players that have already agreed to play for the new Bacolod squad are former PBA player Leo Najorda and Genmar Bragais.

Last season, Bacolod City was represented by Bacolod City of Smiles.

They only won one of their 28 matches./ASC, WDJ