Unmask the MassKara

The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is in the eye of a storm again.

Last week, my good friend, Cedelf Tupas, was screaming his heart out live on national television, ranting about the performance — or non-performance, rather — of the Bacolod MassKara that led to an embarrassing 36-point loss to the Bulacan Kuyas in the MPBL 2026 Season.

Well, I’ve known Cedelf for the past 20 years. He was fair, upright and truly a straight-shooter. Yet, he was terribly upset not just because he is a league executive and broadcaster, but also because he was born and raised in Bacolod City.

And for somebody like Cedelf who grew up cheering for John Ferriols, Leo Bat-og, Reynel Hugnatan and Johnedel Cardel of the Negros Slashers in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association, watching the MassKara making a big joke out of themselves is a heinous crime, a betrayal of their regional pride.

In short, when you have somebody like Cedelf who literally lives and breathes Negros basketball ranting over his home team’s sloppy performance on live broadcast, you know that something is seriously broken.

But my friend’s tirade was valid. The MassKara suddenly forgot how to play basketball in the final eight minutes of the game. And the way he saw it, it wasn’t just a cold streak or a bad night; it was an insult to the game.

Remember the movie Space Jam when the Monstars stripped National Basketball Association superstars like Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues and Shawn Bradley of their basketball talent? That’s exactly what happened when these MassKara were suddenly refusing to run the plays, shying away from taking the open shots, and not putting any effort on defense — except that they were apparently doing it on purpose.

Poor Cedelf, all he could do was shake his head while saying: "They don’t look like they want to score anymore. Look at them, they’re just walking. Wow!"

But it looks like the MassKara have the track record of losing big. Before their head-scratching setback to the Kuyas, a team composed of homegrown players, the MassKara won only three of their first 21 games. They lost by 31 to Gensan, 77-108; by 47 to Caloocan, 52-99; by 52 to Quezon, 61-113; by 43 to San Juan, 85-128; by 33 to Batangas, 78-111; by 35 to Rizal, 72-107; by 51 to Bataan, 62-113, by 26 to Pasay, 74-100; by 37 to Zamboanga, 80-117; and by 30 to Cebu, 67-97.

The MassKara’s most lopsided loss? A staggering 84-point setback to Abra, 45-129, last 20 July. It was the largest ever losing margin in MPBL history, proving that they don’t have any business playing in a league that thrives on regional pride and local passion.

Apparently, the MPBL had seen enough. A little over 24 hours after making a mockery of professional basketball, commissioner Emmerson Oreta issued a statement, saying that they are banning players who were served with red cards while cancelling the rest of the MassKara’s campaign for this season.

But is it really enough? Definitely not.

It is no secret that the MPBL has been battling credibility problems. Aside from the massive losing margins and obvious talent disparity, cases of delayed salaries and sudden disappearances of some teams in the middle of the season had raised eyebrows, eroding the credibility and integrity of the league that, at one point, was said to be a serious threat to the 50-year-old Philippine Basketball Association.

If the MPBL really wants to preserve its credibility, it has to come up with a transparent, honest-to-goodness investigation on the Bacolod MassKara. It just can’t simply kick them out of the league and call it a day. Instead, it has to dig deeper to determine the root cause and identify the personalities behind it before publicly announcing their names and making sure that they will never set foot on any MPBL floor again.

It’s time to unmask these MassKara and award the Bacolod franchise to somebody who will make the city proud.