Can the Philippines regain its lost glory in Asian basketball?

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Although the Philippine national basketball team continued to dominate the Southeast Asian (SEA)Games and the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA), it continued to suffer in the Asian Games and the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) Asia Championships that it used to dominate from 1913 up to the mid-70s. The Philippines lost its Asian supremacy in basketball after its best players moved to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), Asia's first and the world's 2nd professional basketball league founded on April 1975. Since FIBA, the world governing body for basketball, restricts professional players from playing in national teams, all that was left to represent the country in international competition is an inexperienced and less talented national team. The best amateur team that was sent by the Philippines in international competition after the founding of the PBA was in 1986 when the Philippines, bannered by Allan Caidic, Hector Calma and Samboy Lim, won the FIBA Asia Championships. However, the team withdrew from the FIBA World Championships due to the political crisis in the Philippines. When FIBA started to allow professional players to represent their country in international competitions, the best that we had was 2nd Place in 1990 when the Philippines sent an all-professional team coached by PBA superstar Robert Jaworski to the Asian Games. Another reason for the debacle of Philippine basketball in international competition is its Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP), FIBA-recognized national governing body for basketball in the Philippines, leadership. Its rough treatment of member teams in the Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association, the country's foremost amateur league, led to the establishment of the PBA in 1975. The BAP was also criticized for sending weak basketball teams in international competition, most notable is its placing 15th out of 16 national teams in the 2003 FIBA Championships. The biggest blow was in 2005 when the national team, made up of little known amateur players, lost to the Parañaque Jets, bannered by showbiz personalities and owned by the then Parañaque Vice Mayor and comedian Anjo Yllana in a preseason tournament of the National Basketball Conference. Said lost led to the split in the nation's leadership and eventually to FIBA's sanctioning a suspension to the Philippine national team in international competition. Now that everything is settled for Philippine basketball, professional players able to represent the country in international competition and the lifting of the FIBA suspension, can the Philippines regain its lost glory in Asian basketball? If we prepare early, can we bring home the bacon? After all, even though the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Iranians and other Asian nations have gained ground in Asian basketball, we're still the only Asian nation to have placed third in the FIBA World Championships.