The Philippines' ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) franchise is planning to bring legendary import Billy Ray Bates back on local soil when the first regional pro league begins this October in Singapore.

Dubbed as "Black Superman", Bates dazzled his fans and terrified his guards with his versatility during his celebrated stint with the fabled Crispa squad.

"We haven't had any contacts with him but we're trying to bring him back for one last hurrah," said team owner Mikee Romero during Tuesday's PSA Forum held at Shakey's UN Avenue in Manila.

But Romero pointed out that the 53-year old Bates, who averaged 46 points per game with Crispa and later Ginebra during the 1980's, will only suit up for a few minutes.

Aside from Bates, the team hopes to add ex-PBA stars Samboy Lim, Vergel Meneses, Jerry Codiñera, Bong Alvarez, and Gerry Esplana as guest players.

As part of Romero's partnership with Tony Boy Cojuangco, the games of the local squad will be shown live through Cojuangco's TV-5 (formerly ABC-5) with international broadcasts to be televised on ESPN.

Despite the economic crisis, TV-5 executive Bobby Barreiro, who joined Romero in the weekly forum, believes that it's a risk worth taking.

"It's going to be difficult (amidst the crisis) but then again, what we also think is that we look at every crisis as an opportunity," said Barreiro. "There are a lot of Filipinos outside of the country, they are homesick and this particular league might help them a bit."

"The challenge for the ABL to the PBA is very different but it’s something that excites us. I think we could use our past experience in this venture," added Barreiro, whose network covered PBA games from 2004-2008.