TITING MANALILI IS GOING TO BE A STAR

JONATHAN "TITING" MANALILI | FROM NCAA / GMA NETWORK

If I were Letran, I’d lock in Allen Ricardo for the long haul and keep tabs on Jonathan “Titing” Manalili with every legal scouting tool possible—just in case a UAAP team, the KBL, or the Japan B.League tries to swoop in. People have compared him to LA Tenorio, Scottie Thompson, and Kiefer Ravena, and honestly, they’re not wrong. Looking back at old Letran Squires clips, it’s crazy to think they had both Andy Gemao and Manalili on the same roster.

The blog idea came to me after watching the Mapua–Letran game. It was a thrilling matchup that saw Jonathan “Titing” Manalili go head-to-head with Mapua’s veteran guard Clint Escamis. Letran escaped with an overtime win, but it wasn’t easy—they blew a huge first-half lead and nearly collapsed before Manalili took charge as the team’s top playmaker. The former NCAA Juniors star was just four rebounds shy of another triple-double, leading the Knights to their fourth straight win after starting the season 0–3.

That said, even if Allen Ricardo eventually leaves Letran, Manalili needs to start thinking about his long-term future. In this game alone, Letran had several pro-bound players—Mark Omega and Deo Cuajao, both of whom began their college careers with Perpetual and UST respectively. Jun Roque, another Letran player with pro potential and a former Perpetual standout, was sidelined by injury. Then there are guys like Pete Rosillo, who first played for Mapua, and Jimboy Estrada, once a NAASCU MVP for St. Clare. Even Escamis has quite the journey—returning to Mapua after a stint with the UE Red Warriors.

I get why players transfer. For someone like Estrada, moving to the NCAA makes sense. No disrespect to the NAASCU schools, but the road to the PBA is clearer when you play in either the UAAP or NCAA. Still, I’ve said this before: I really question the trend of players hopping from one college team to another. They lose a year to residency, restart with a new system, and sometimes stall their development.

PBA teams crave players with age, experience, and polish. Sure, the MPBL is now a valuable stepping stone, but the faster these players graduate, the more time they have to build a long professional career. Unless they get a legitimate international offer, jumping from school to school can hurt more than help.

Yes, there are exceptions—Justine Sanchez, Tony Ynot, and Allen Liwag have thrived in Benilde—but for every success story, there’s a Shawn Umali who struggles to find his footing. Jacob Cortez is playing well for La Salle, but honestly, he probably would’ve posted similar numbers had he stayed in San Beda. On the other hand, Luis Pablo’s return to the DLSU system after a UP stint worked out nicely for him.

Coaches often talk about loyalty, but that doesn’t always translate to the pros. Sure, Fran Yu reunited with Bonnie Tan in NorthPort, and the San Miguel–Adamson connection under Leo Austria made sense—but that’s not the norm. Most players don’t get that kind of continuity once they turn pro.

So for Manalili’s sake, unless he gets an offer overseas, he should finish his career with the Letran Knights. He’ll graduate sooner, develop under a stable system, and might not even need a long MPBL stint to prove his worth to PBA scouts.