PBA players, coaches spend Holy Week in prayer and reflection (2025)

Magnolia Hotshots’ Ian Sangalang during a PBA Philippine Cup game. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–As Holy Week offers a pause from the grind of the PBA season, players and coaches are taking the time to reflect, reconnect with family, and observe long-held traditions.

Ian Sangalang, for instance, plans to spend time with his family in Pampanga, where they’ll visit several historic churches, especially in Bacolor.

“For me, it’s about spending time with family and visiting churches. Whenever we have time off, we go back to the province,” said Sangalang.

“We’ll be in Pampanga for Holy Week. There are a lot of churches there, especially in Bacolor—they have some of the oldest churches in the area,” he added.

Sangalang has been a key contributor in Magnolia’s unblemished 3-0 start in the PBA Philippine Cup.

Meralco’s Raymond Almazan and CJ Cansino share similar plans.

Almazan said he looks forward to watching Senakulo—a traditional passion play depicting the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ—with his family.

“We watch Senakulo and go to church with my kids. Sometimes we also go to the beach since this is our only real break during the PBA season,” said the Meralco big man.

“Every Holy Week, I spend time with family. We have a three-day practice, but after that, we’ll probably watch Senakulo and visit some churches.”

Cansino, meanwhile, will continue his family tradition of Visita Iglesia, visiting nearly a dozen churches on Maundy Thursday.

“We do Visita Iglesia and walk around Manila to visit almost 12 or 13 churches. We do it every year, and we’ll continue it this year as a family,” said the University of the Philippines product.

In addition to prayer and church visits, Cansino hopes to use the break for personal reflection.

“I want to reflect on being more consistent in being a good person. Life’s been hard lately, so it’s important to just try to be kind.”

Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo also has plans for the week, which include possibly heading to Subic with his family, but he’s also setting time aside for prayer and introspection—both on and off the court.

“It’s a time to pray and be with family. Sometimes we go out of town because it’s the only time we have. Other times we just stay here, since Manila is almost empty during Holy Week,” said Trillo.

“We might spend our time down in Subic, spend some days with my family there just to go away. Might be some time when we just need a break.”

Trillo and the defending champions are hoping to regroup after back-to-back losses following a 2-0 start in the All-Filipino conference.

Blackwater, still winless at 0-2, is also welcoming the break. But for BJ Andrade, the focus isn’t on basketball—it’s on reflection and sacrifice.

“We sacrifice a bit like we don’t eat meat [as a family] but for me, I’ll just be laying low on social media, focus on prayer and do some bible study with the family,” said Andrade.

The former Ateneo guard also plans to head to Pangasinan to spend quality time with his loved ones during the break.