Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc.


The Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. is a sports association of 12 schools, colleges and universities in Cebu, Philippines. The CESAFI was established in 2001.

History

Before CESAFI's creation, there was already a collegiate league in Cebu, named the Cebu Collegiate Athletic Association. The league was created sometime in the 1930s and was the country's second college sports league, only preceded by the National Collegiate Athletic Association which was created in 1924, and way before the creation of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines in 1938. The CCAA was regarded as clearly the best college sports league outside Metro Manila and one of the three major college leagues together with the UAAP and the NCAA, both of which are based in Manila. The CCAA has had a rich history from the 1930s until it dissolved in 2000, producing top Filipino basketball players such as Ramon Fernandez of USC, regarded as the greatest Filipino basketball player during the golden years of the Philippine Basketball Association in the 1970s and 1980s, alongside two time PBA MVP Abet Guidaben, Jojo Lastimosa, Zaldy Realubit, Bernie Fabiosa and Dondon Ampalayo of USJ-R. Other collegiate greats who became PBA legends include PBA star Dondon Hontiveros and Biboy Ravanes of the UC, and Boy Cabahug, Al Solis and superstar Manny Paner of the UV.
The CCAA took an unexpected turn, when in 1999 league commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy, Jr. barred a player of Salazar Colleges of Science and Institute of Technology. The school filed a case against Tiukinhoy and the CCAA. To avoid a lengthy court process, Tiukinhoy decided to dissolve the CCAA and create a new league, which was named as the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. or CESAFI, which was basically the same league but with a different name with the same teams except for Salazar College, which was expelled from the new league. For unknown reasons, the Southwestern University, who were the champions of the last season of the CCAA, decided to pull out from the new league after the first season. However, on 2006, SWU eventually returned to the CESAFI.
In the league's first 9 years, the University of the Visayas was considered to be the league's powerhouse, winning the basketball tournament for 9 consecutive years and was a contender for basically all the sports of the league. However, this changed in the league's 10th season, after the University of Cebu, led by June Mar Fajardo who is considered the greatest Filipino basketball player who ever lived, became the first team other than UV to win the basketball championship, the University of San Jose–Recoletos won the men's and women's volleyball championship, the University of Southern Philippines Foundation won the athletics championship. The University of Cebu also won the tennis tournament, a sport which UV has also dominated for a long time.
In 2013, a high school basketball player named Scott Aying, son of former PBA player Danny Aying, was ruled ineligible after failing to serve a two-year residency period after transferring from San Beda College to the University of San Carlos. Aying's parents sought legal action against CESAFI and the league's commissioner, Felix Tiukinhoy, Jr. Aying's parents argued that Tiukinhoy and other league officials “wrongfully interpreted the tournament’s rules and "unjustly disqualified" our son". The judge later allowed the younger Aying to play, stating that Aying did not violate the league's two-year residency rule.
In 2015, the Southwestern University was found to have fielded overaged basketball players in their high school team after it was discovered that nine of its players have submitted the tampered versions of their birth certificates. To avoid inflicting more damage to the school's name, SWU eventually pulled out all of its teams in the high school division and also considered to pull out all of its college teams but decided not to as the school is considered as a perennial contender in the seniors' division especially in the basketball championship. The university had also issued an apology to the CESAFI about this incident.
In 2018, University of Cebu-Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue Campus becomes the thirteenth member school to join the CESAFI tournament.

Member schools

Seniors' division

There are a total of ten member schools in the seniors' division
InstitutionLocationFoundedAffiliationNicknamePopulationSchool colors
Cebu Eastern CollegeCebu City1915Private, Non-sectarianDragons---
Cebu Institute of Technology – UniversityCebu City1946Private, Non-sectarianWildcats~35,000
Don Bosco Technical CollegeCebu City1954Private, SalesianGreywolves---
Southwestern University PHINMACebu City1946Private, Non-sectarianCobras~13,000
University of CebuCebu City1964Private, Non-sectarianWebmasters~61,000
University of Cebu – Lapu-Lapu & Mandaue CampusMandaue City1995Private, Non-sectarianUC–LM Webmasters
University of San CarlosCebu City1595Private, Society of the Divine WordWarriors~27,000
University of San Jose–RecoletosCebu City1947Private, Augustinian RecollectJaguars~14,000
University of Southern Philippines FoundationCebu City1927Private, Non-sectarianPanthers~18,000
University of the VisayasCebu City1919Private, Non-sectarianGreen Lancers~35,000

Juniors' division

There are eleven teams in the juniors' division. All ten schools in the seniors' division have a team in the juniors' division. Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de Cebu is the only school without a team in the seniors' division.
InstitutionLocationFoundedAffiliationNicknamePopulationSchool Colors
Cebu Eastern CollegeCebu City1915Private, Non-sectarianDragons---
Cebu Institute of Technology – UniversityCebu City1946Private, Non-sectarianWildkittens---
Don Bosco Technology CenterCebu City1954Private, SalesianBaby Greywolves---
Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de CebuMandaue City1955Private, JesuitsMagis Eagles---
Southwestern University PHINMACebu City1946Private, Non-sectarianBaby Cobras---
University of CebuCebu City1964Private, Non-sectarianJunior Webmasters---
University of Cebu – Lapu-Lapu & Mandaue CampusMandaue City1995Private, Non-sectarianUCLM Junior Webmasters---
University of San Carlos – Basic Education DepartmentCebu City1595Private, Society of the Divine WordBaby Warriors---
University of San Jose–RecoletosCebu City1947Private, Augustinian RecollectBaby Jaguars---
University of Southern Philippines FoundationCebu City1927Private, Non-sectarianBaby Panthers---
University of the VisayasCebu City1919Private, Non-sectarianBaby Lancers---

Other member schools

Events

The CESAFI sets itself apart from other Philippine inter-school leagues as aside from its sporting events, it also holds academic and cultural events, which are contested and participated by all of its member schools. As of 2018, CESAFI has 15 sporting events, and 14 academic and cultural events.

Sports

The league, as of 2018, has ten schools competing in 15 different sports:
The league also plans to add golf, weightlifting and bowling in the far future. Unlike the University Athletic Association of the Philippines and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, CESAFI teams do not compete for an overall championship.

Academic and cultural events

As of the 2018 season, CESAFI has twelve schools competing in 14 academic and cultural events. These events consist of the following:
CESAFI's basketball tournament is arguably its most popular event, and is considered as one of the country's top collegiate basketball tournaments, along with the UAAP and NCAA's basketball tournaments. Below is the list of champions of the CESAFI Basketball Tournament.

List of CESAFI basketball champions

Most Valuable Players

Season

;Notes

Number of championships by school

Media coverage

Since its inception in 2001, replacing the old Cebu Amateur Athletic Association, CESAFI has received extensive coverage from the Cebu media and local and national newspapers like Sun.Star and The Philippine Star, but still lags behind in terms of its Manila-based counterparts UAAP and the NCAA in terms of publicity. Also, unlike the UAAP and NCAA, CESAFI had no national television partners. However, this changed as on its 15th season, the CESAFI went into nationwide TV coverage after signing an agreement with IBC 13 and Viva Sports. This agreement allowed the basketball, football and volleyball games to be televised on the channel. For its 16th season, CESAFI and Viva Sports partnered with AksyonTV to broadcast the basketball games, which is aired every Monday to Friday from 6 to 8 p.m.For its 19th season, the CESAFI is working with different student volunteers from the various member schools for the production coverage of the basketball games. The endeavour is called "CESAFI Live" and was hatched by long-time commissioner, Felix Tiukinhoy, Jr., who expressed his desire to create an environment where students are not just mere spectators. “We take CESAFI one step further this Season 19, not only by improving the environment for our student-athletes and other event contenders, but also by including more students not merely as spectators and fans, but as actual organizers and managers of various committees that make CESAFI a success,” said Tiukinhoy. All season long, the students would handling different elements of the production coverage such as camera handling, courtside reporting and annotating.