Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc.

History

Before CESAFI's creation, there was already a collegiate league in Cebu, named the Cebu Amateur Athletic Association (CAAA). 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 CAAA was regarded as the best college sports league outside Metro Manila and the third most prestigious one after the UAAP and NCAA, both of which are based in Manila. The CAAA 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 of all time, Abet Guidaben, Jojo Lastimosa, Zaldy Realubit, Bernie Fabiosa and Dondon Ampalayo of USJ-R, Dondon Hontiveros and Biboy Ravanes of UC, Boy Cabahug, Al Solis and Manny Paner of UV.

The CAAA 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 CAAA. To avoid a lengthy court process, Tiukinhoy decided to dissolve the CAAA 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 were expelled from the new league. For unknown reasons, the Southwestern University (Now named as Southwestern University-Phinma), who were the champions of the last season of CAAA, 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, 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.

Seniors' division

There are a total of nine member schools in the seniors' division

Juniors' division

There are ten teams in the juniors' division. All 9 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.

Sports

The league currently has ten schools competing in 16 different sports: basketball, athletics, swimming, chess, gymnastics, lawn tennis, table tennis, sepak takraw, badminton, volleyball, beach volleyball, taekwondo, karatedo, football, dancesport, and scrabble. 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.

CESAFI Basketball Championship

CESAFI's basketball tournament is arguably its most popular event, and is considered as one of the country's top college basketball tournament, along with UAAP and NCAA's basketball tournaments. Here is the list of the champions of the CESAFI Basketball Tournament.

Season

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.