Songwriter and composer
Jim Paredes was commissioned by the league to compose the league's theme song, in celebration of its 25th anniversary. The song, entitled "Todo Bigay" was first performed by
Regine Velasquez during the league's opening ceremonies.
The league celebrated their silver anniversary on April 9, 2000, with the awarding of the
PBA's 25 greatest players.[1]
The league forfeited
Batang Red Bull's wins when 18-year-old
Kerby Raymundo was found to have deficient academic credentials. He would later return to the team in 2001.
The Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) revoked the Filipino citizenship of
Tanduay's
Sonny Alvarado as it uncovered that the player used fraudulent papers; consequently, the BID ordered Alvarado's deportation.
Alvarado's deportation affected the season's
All-Filipino Cup semifinal round after PBA commissioner
Jun Bernardino forfeited two of Tanduay's semifinal wins (Games 2 and 3) against
Purefoods, since Alvarado played in those games (he didn't play in the first game). With the forfeitures, the series would have resumed on Game 4 with Purefoods leading the series 2–1; however, Tanduay secured a
temporary restraining order (TRO) that prevented the league from staging Game 4 of their series. This has been the first time a PBA game has been suspended via a court order.
Opening ceremonies
The muses for the participating teams are as follows:
As celebration to the league's twenty-fifth anniversary, the league and the Asian Basketball Confederation (now
FIBA Asia) held the ABC-PBA All-Star Game.[2] Controversy ensued when ABC team member
Rommel Adducul (who was also playing for the
Manila Metrostars of the
Metropolitan Basketball Association) had to be late due to his commitments with the Metrostars. Adducul earlier played against the Pasig-Rizal Pirates, a few kilometers away from the ABC-PBA All-Star venue.[3]