MANILA, Philippines – It took multiple finals losses, but Vic Manuel can now call himself a PBA champion.

The sweet-shooting forward captured his first PBA championship after a decade in the league by helping San Miguel outlast TNT in seven games in the Philippine Cup finals on Sunday, September 4.

Before joining the winningest franchise in PBA history, Manuel reached the finals five times with Alaska but fell short of the grand prize in all occasions.

“It is like I forgot all of my heartbreaks from the past,” Manuel said in Filipino.

“It feels overwhelming to finally get what you dreamed of. This is the goal of every player here in the PBA – to win a championship.”

The irony, though, is not lost on Manuel as he finally got over the hump with the same team that broke his heart numerous times.

Out of his five finals defeats, three came at the hands of the Beermen, including the famed “Beeracle” that saw San Miguel rule the 2016 Philippine Cup by becoming the first team in PBA history to come back from a 0-3 hole.

Manuel looked on his way to bagging the Finals MVP honors in that title series after averaging 20.8 points and 9 rebounds in the first six games only to witness the Aces absorb a 96-89 loss in Game 7.

“I never thought of giving up. I told myself that as long as I’m in the PBA, I still have a chance to win a championship,” said the 35-year-old veteran.

“I’m lucky that I finally won one and it happened with the same San Miguel team that always beat me in the past,” he added. “It is funny that I won the championship with them. It feels great.”

Now that Manuel has gotten a taste of the championship experience, he is hungry for more.

“Like I said when I was still at Alaska at the time, if we manage to win one, there is a possibility that we would win more. But we were just unlucky,” Manuel said.

“I moved on and I was given an opportunity here at San Miguel out of all the teams.” – Rappler.com