UNTV Cup
The UNTV Cup is a men's charity basketball league organized in the Philippines. Fourteen basketball teams represented by government agencies compete in the tournament.
The league's first game started on July 29, 2013, coinciding the 9th Anniversary Celebration of UNTV. As an amateur league, UNTV Cup is using the FIBA rules as its House Rules which is being used in world basketball and Olympics according to Mr. Raffy Britanico, officiating head of Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas , a basketball association in the Philippines.
Its first season was held at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines. Fortunato Co serves as the commissioner of the basketball league. Following the success of its first season, UNTV Cup season two was opened on February 11, 2014, at the same venue with newly added public service booths of each participating teams/government agencies. An off-season game was opened on August 21, 2014, with the three branches of the Philippine government: Judiciary, Legislative an Executive teams. Also with Media Team will also play to complete the set of players.
UNTV Cup is an original concept by Daniel Razon tagged as Mr. Public Service and materialized by UNTV widely known as public service television station in the Philippines. He is the chairman and CEO of BMPI-UNTV, the organization behind the UNTV Cup.
Regular games are usually held at the Paco Arena in Manila City and Novadeci Convention Center in Quezon City, with a live telecast on the UNTV Public Service channel every Sunday and Thursday afternoon.
Competition format
Regular season
Elimination rounds
UNTV Cup's regular season runs from September or October to March of the following year. Regardless of the number of teams, they are divided into two groups for the first round of eliminations. Each team will face all other teams in the same group once. After all the first-round games are played, the bottom two teams of both groups are eliminated for the season, and the remaining teams advance to the second round of eliminations.All teams that advanced are combined into one group, and there will be a crossover where each team will play against all the teams they were not grouped with in the first round. After the single round robin games in the second phase of eliminations, the bottom two teams will be eliminated for the season, and the remaining teams qualify for the playoffs.
If teams have identical win-loss records in the standings, regardless of the phase of the competition, the official tiebreaker procedure is as follows:
- Largest point differential in head-to-head matches among tied teams
- Winner of head-to-head matches among tied teams
Playoffs
In the semifinals, the matchups are #1 versus #4 and #2 versus #3, where the higher seeds have a twice-to-beat advantage. The semifinal winners will then meet in the best-of-three Finals, while the semifinal losers will play for a third-place game.
The first team to get two wins in the Finals are declared champions and get the largest money to donate to their chosen beneficiaries.
Executive Face Off
The Executive Face Off usually does not coincide with the regular season, and it runs from May to July. The duration is shorter due to fewer entrants than the regular tournament, and so the teams are considered as one group. All teams will play a single round robin where they face each other team once.After the elimination round games, only the top four teams will advance to the semifinals, where #1 meets #4 and #2 plays #3. The higher seeds will have a twice-to-beat advantage. The semifinal winners will then meet in the best-of-three Finals for a chance to get the championship and the biggest money to give to their chosen beneficiaries.
Teams
The UNTV Cup started in 2013 with 7 teams. The number of teams differ by season since government agencies voluntarily apply. Each season, participating teams are divided into two groups for the elimination round, but it is not publicly revealed how the selection process for groups is performed.Government agencies are urged to join and will not have to pay a joining fee. Instead, the teams are given free uniforms by the league, and beneficiaries are given the prize whatever round the teams finished.
For the Executive Face Off editions, players must be executives aged 40 years old and above.
Including Season 10, there have been 25 teams in the history of the league.
Active teams
As of 2024| Government agency | Moniker | First season | Seasons played | Head coach |
| Armed Forces of the Philippines | AFP Cavaliers | 2013 | 11 | Jeffrey Quiambao |
| Bureau of Jail Management and Penology | BJMP Greyhounds | 2024 | 1 | Charles Valdez |
| Commission on Elections | COMELEC Vanguards | 2023 | 2 | Atty. Jan Ale Fajardo |
| Department of Agriculture | Agriculture Food Masters | 2017 | 6 | Jocas Castillo |
| Department of Environment and Natural Resources | DENR Warriors | 2019 | 4 | Atty. Norlito Eneran |
| Department of Foreign Affairs | DFA Emissaries | 2023 | 2 | Butch Gandarosa |
| Department of Justice | DOJ Hunters/Avengers/Justice Boosters/Beacons | 2013 | 9 | Raymond Valenzona |
| Government Service Insurance System | GSIS Furies | 2014 | 9 | Pocholo Villanueva |
| Supreme Court of the Philippines | Judiciary Cagers/Magis | 2013 | 11 | Gilbert Malabanan |
| National Housing Authority | NHA Builders/Home Masters | 2014 | 9 | Chico Lanete |
| Office of the Ombudsman | Ombudsman Graft Busters | 2015 | 8 | Danny Florano |
| Philippine Health Insurance Corporation | PhilHealth Advocates/Your Partner In Health/Plus/Konsulta | 2013 | 6 | Ronald Louie Laruscain |
| Philippine National Police | PNP Hinirangs/Responders | 2013 | 11 | Eric Samson |
| Senate of the Philippines | Senate Defenders | 2014 | 9 | Mike Fermin |
| Social Security System | SSS Kabalikat | 2019 | 4 | Ronald Tubid |
Defunct teams
| Government agency | Moniker | Years joined | Seasons played | W–L record | Win% | Playoff appearances |
| Bureau of Customs | BOC Transformers | 2016–2017 | 1 | – | 1 | |
| Bureau of Fire Protection | BFP Firefighters | 2014–2018 | 4 | – | 2 | |
| Commission on Audit | COA Enablers | 2017–2018 | 1 | 0–6 | 0 | |
| Congress of the Philippines and Local Government Units | Congress-LGU Legislators | 2013 | 1 | 2–5 | 1 | |
| Department of Health | DOH Health Achievers | 2017–2018 | 1 | 1–5 | 0 | |
| House of Representatives | HOR Solons | 2014–2017 | 4 | – | 0 | |
| Local Government Units | LGU Vanguards | 2014 | 1 | 3–5 | 0 | |
| Metropolitan Manila Development Authority | MMDA Equalizers/Black Wolves | 2013–2017 | 5 | – | 3 | |
| Office of the President & Presidential Management Staff | OP-PMS Trailblazers | 2014 | 9 | – | – | 3 |
| Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency | PDEA Drug Busters | 2017–2018 | 1 | 2–8 | 0 | |
| Philippine International Trading Corporation | PITC Global Traders | 2018–2020 | 2 | – | 2 |
Timeline
As of October 30, 2023, there have been 25 teams in the history of the UNTV Cup. There were also interested agencies such as the Philippine Coast Guard, PhilHealth and MTRCB, but reasons were undisclosed why they were not in the lineup of teams.DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1200 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:2013 till:2024
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
PlotArea = right:100 left:5 bottom:70 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#
Colors =
id:line value:pink
id:Full value:rgb legend:League_member
id:Former value:rgb legend:Former_member
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:Full from:2013 till:end text:AFP Cavaliers
bar:2 color:Former from:2013 till:2014 text:Congress-LGU Legislators
bar:3 color:Full from:2013 till:2014 text:DOJ Hunters
bar:3 color:Full from:2014 till:2015 text:DOJ Avengers
bar:3 color:Full from:2015 till:2019 text:DOJ Justice Boosters
bar:3 color:Full from:2023 till:end text:DOJ Beacons
bar:4 color:Full from:2013 till:2015 text:Judiciary Cagers
bar:4 color:Full from:2015 till:end text:Judiciary Magis
bar:5 color:Former from:2013 till:2015 text:MMDA Equalizers
bar:5 color:Former from:2015 till:2017 text:MMDA Black Wolves
bar:6 color:Former from:2013 till:2015 text:PhilHealth Advocates
bar:6 color:Former from:2015 till:2015 text:PhilHealth – Your Partner In Health
bar:6 color:Former from:2018 till:2022 text:PhilHealth Plus
bar:6 color:Former from:2022 till:2023 text:PhilHealth Konsulta
bar:7 color:Full from:2013 till:2015 text:PNP Hinirangs
bar:7 color:Full from:2015 till:end text:PNP Responders
bar:8 color:Former from:2014 till:2017 text:HOR Solons
bar:9 color:Former from:2014 till:2015 text:LGU Vanguards
bar:10 color:Full from:2014 till:2016 text:Malacañang Patriots
bar:10 color:Full from:2016 till:2018 text:Malacañang Kamao
bar:10 color:Full from:2018 till:2022 text:Malacañang–PSC Kamao
bar:10 color:Full from:2022 till:end text: OP-PMS Trailblazers
bar:11 color:Full from:2014 till:2019 text:Senate Defenders
bar:11 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Senate Defenders
bar:12 color:Former from:2014 till:2018 text:BFP Firefighters
bar:13 color:Full from:2014 till:end text:GSIS Furies
bar:14 color:Full from:2014 till:2022 text:NHA Builders
bar:14 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:NHA Home Masters
bar:15 color:Full from:2015 till:end text:Ombudsman Graft Busters
bar:16 color:Former from:2016 till:2017 text:BOC Transformers
bar:17 color:Former from:2017 till:2018 text:COA Enablers
bar:18 color:Full from:2017 till:2019 text:DA Food Masters
bar:18 color:Full from:2019 till:end text:Agriculture Food Masters
bar:19 color:Former from:2017 till:2018 text:DOH Health Achievers
bar:20 color:Former from:2017 till:2018 text:PDEA Drug Busters
bar:21 color:Former from:2018 till:2020 text:PITC Global Traders
bar:22 color:Full from:2019 till:end text:DENR Warriors
bar:23 color:Full from:2019 till:end text:SSS Kabalikat
bar:24 color:Full from:2023 till:end text:COMELEC Vanguards
bar:25 color:Full from:2023 till:end text:DFA Emissaries
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2013
TextData =
fontsize:L
textcolor:black
pos: tabs:
text: