By Henry Liao
Allow this battle-scarred dinosaur to continue to turn back the hands of time in the world of Philippine basketball.
Most basketball fans are familiar with the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), which was founded on April 9, 1975. The PBA was established after nine teams defected from the Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA), the country’s premier post-graduate commercial league, which had been around since 1938.
The MICAA was organized by major companies dealing in sporting goods, apparel, equipment, and consumer products. Notable early members included H.E. Heacock Incorporated, San Miguel Brewery, Philippine Airlines, Elizalde and Company (which owned the Yco Redshirts/Painters, represented by top sportsman Don Manolo Elizalde), Manila Yellow Taxicab Company (owned by businessman Felipe Monserrat), Seven-Up Bottling Company, Ysmael Steel (represented by the YS Admirals, owned by industrialist Felipe “Baby” Ysmael), Chelsea, Yutivo Sons Hardware Company, Crispa-Floro, Universal Textiles, Puyat Steel, and Great Pacific Life Assurance Company.
Six clubs won the MICAA championship (All-Filipino Conference or import-laced Open Conference) in their inaugural years: Heacock’s in 1938, Maurice Enterprises in 1946, Olympic Sporting Goods in 1947, Seven-Up in 1955, Mariwasa (owned by PBA founder Emerson Coseteng, father of future Senator Anna Dominique “Nikki” Coseteng) in 1968, and Toyota (owned by Don Pablo Carlos) in 1973.
The 1973 MICAA season was shaken by a report from the Philippine Constabulary Metrocom and a Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) special committee. They accused six Crispa-Floro players of game-fixing and point-shaving during the All-Filipino tournament, specifically in the best-of-three title series opener, where Mariwasa Akai defeated the star-studded Crispa-Floro.
The Recorders went on to sweep the series, 2-0, against the Cement Mixers, capturing their first-ever MICAA All-Filipino championship under legendary coach Valentin “Tito” Eduque.
Eduque, who joined Mariwasa in 1971, won his second MICAA title with the franchise (the first was in the 1972 MICAA Open, alongside Americans Billy Robinson and Israel “Cisco” Oliver). Eduque’s fifth title came in 1964 with Yco, and he also won in 1966 and 1967 with Ysmael Steel. He left Mariwasa for Concepcion Industries in the 1973 MICAA Open.
Despite the game-fixing controversy, which dominated headlines for months (just two years after Robert “Sonny” Jaworski and Alberto “Big Boy” Reynoso, both national team players for Meralco, physically attacked referee Jose Obias during the 1971 All-Filipino finals between the Reddy Kilowatts and Crispa-Floro Redmanizers), the MICAA continued to thrive for another year or two. However, a dispute with then-BAP president Gonzalo “Lito” Puyat led the top clubs to leave the MICAA in March 1975 to form Asia’s first professional basketball league—the PBA.
The MICAA lingered for a time as a “farm” league before ultimately folding in mid-1981 with the creation of the Philippine Amateur Basketball League (PABL).
- 2025 NBA Playoffs: Who’s in and Where - April 13, 2025
- Before PBA, there was MICAA - April 9, 2025
- PBA Season 1: Toyota 2, Crispa 1 - April 8, 2025
