#labapilipinas

First and foremost, our apologies for the desecration of the esteemed wordmark. It was never the intention to ruin the name. But after the blatant and outright trashing of no less than the President of the Republic of the Philippines, this one doesn’t even come close to, or fare as against the magnitude of demoralizing words he had uttered to our beloved Gilas Pilipinas as we head on to the #FIBAWC.

He's one of those fish who found their way into Philippine waters. Yeah right. The Senate President knows that. And we're glad to witness one of Philippine basketball's biggest catch.

EHEM!Are we really #FIBAWC bound? Because it seems we're not. While most teams gather and prepare, doing tune-ups already, adding notable stars to their pool, even a couple of National Teams joining the NBA Summer League—our Gilas pool is struggling with attendance as they begin to call the weekly practice. What used to be a "small ball" handicap for Gilas Pilipinas has now become "small attendance" obstacle!

Remember Batang Gilas? Well, they're now called "Gilas Youth." And boy, they're up for some thirst-quenching journey come FIBA-U19 World Cup in Greece.

This isn’t about that famous fashion brand. “‘Clined” in fact is a contraction of a word. Much as we really wanted it to mean an increase, an improvement, an upward trajectory like—“inclined”. But, it’s the otherwise. And sadly, he really has “declined”. Of course the other part of the title, “Calvin”—we know who we are referring to here. And he’s been all over our timelines lately. Hugging the global spotlights for the wrong reason. Sadly, not the best of news we all wanted to hear.

So we don’t call them Gilas any more? 😮 Are we also ditching the battlecry “Laban Pilipinas”? And “Puso” in lieu of “Utak” this time? And collectively call our Men's Basketball Team simply, "Team Pilipinas"?
What's wrong using the Gilas monicker?

Make it happen. Are we finally back to it?

It's cringeworthy every time a nation talks about it. Never again. Hey wait, let's turn to the next paragraph before we start hitting the streets or hiding in the mountains once again.