MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang on Tuesday, September 2, heaped praises on the  Philippine national basketball team competing in the 2014 FIBA World Cup Basketball Championship in Spain, and urged Filipinos to keep supporting the team’s run.

On Tuesday, September 2, Communications Secretary Sonny Coloma emphasized President Benigno Aquino III himself is “highly interested and supportive” of Gilas Pilipinas – the team’s official name.

“This is our appeal: Let us continue to support the campaign of the Gilas Pilipinas team in the 2014 FIBA World Cup Basketball Championship. The skill and courage shown by the Filipino players despite their bigger and taller opponents are truly admirable,” he said.

He reminded Filipinos that if Gilas wins their last two games, “our team still has a chance to be part of the 4 teams from Group B to advance to the next stage of competition” or Round 16.

Coloma said the “strong performance” of the team is evident, as it played well against 3rd-ranked Argentina, 5th-ranked Greece, and 20th-ranked Croatia. Gilas lost its last 3 games against those teams but earned the respect of Filipino fans for their hard-fought performances, having only lost by 3 to Croatia (78-81), and 4 to Argentina (81-85). The Philippines lost to Greece 70-82. 

It has yet to play 17th-ranked Puerto Rico and 37th-ranked Senegal. The Philippines is ranked 34th.

This is the first time in 40 years that the Philippines qualified for the World Championship.  

Despite the high praise of Malacañang for Gilas, Coloma was unable to ensure increased government support for Philippine sports, in general. 

Asked whether Gilas’ performance means the government would give greater support to its athletes, Coloma only said the “government is doing all it can with its resources to support Philippines sports through the Philippine Sports Commission.”

“Along with that is our continuous encouragement for the private sector to support our athletes – and we are happy to see this in the performance of Gilas Pilipinas. There are many other rivage companies that support other sports,” he said.

Gilas Pilipinas is strongly backed by business tycoon Manny Pangilinan. –Rappler.com