Rommel Adducul

Career

Rommel Adducul was a dominant force in college basketball, winning three MVP awards while steering the San Sebastian Stags to five straight NCAA championships between 1993 and 1997. He also claimed back-to-back NCAA Seniors MVP honors in 1996 and 1997. During his college years, he played in the Philippine Basketball League for the now-defunct Chowking Food Masters, and his main rival from the UAAP was Danny Ildefonso. In 1998, Adducul moved to the short-lived Metropolitan Basketball Association.

The following year, he guided the Manila Metrostars to a title alongside American Alex Compton, earning both the Play-off MVP and Finals MVP. He was named the league's overall MVP in 2000. In 2001, the Metrostars merged with the Batangas Blades, and the combined squad won the championship. He finished his MBA run with the Pangasinan Waves in 2002.

Adducul was a regular on the Philippine national team. He played in the 1994 FIBA Asia Under-19 Championship and later led the country to four straight SEABA titles from 1998 to 2001, as well as three consecutive SEA Games gold medals in 1997, 1999, and 2001. He was selected to the FIBA Asia All-Star team three times (1997, 1998, 2000) and in 2000 captained that squad against the PBA All-Stars. That same year, he made a brief return to the Philippine Basketball League and won its MVP award.

In 2003, the Barangay Ginebra Kings picked him second overall in the PBA draft, and he helped them win back-to-back championships in 2004 and 2005. He was traded to the San Miguel Beermen in October 2006 as part of a three-team deal, then moved to Red Bull Barako in May 2007 for Enrico Villanueva. Two days later, he was sent to the Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants in exchange for Don Camaso, where he secured his third and final PBA title during the 2010 Philippine Cup. He ended his professional career with the Powerade Tigers and the GlobalPort Batang Pier.

Personal life

Adducul was diagnosed with nasopharynx cancer, which prevented him from playing in the 2008 PBA Fiesta Conference while he underwent chemotherapy. In an interview on May 3 Startalk, he stated that he was doing fine, seeing improvement from the chemo as the mass was shrinking, and described his treatment regimen of 35 radiation sessions and six chemotherapy cycles.