First phase In this round, the higher-seeded team in the series has the twice-to-beat advantage.
(3) Rain or Shine vs. (10) Blackwater (4) Barangay Ginebra vs. (9) Star (5) GlobalPort vs. (8) Barako Bull (6) TNT vs. (7) NLEX Second phase This is a one-game playoff. The winner advances to the semifinals.
(3) Rain or Shine vs. (6) TNT (4) Barangay Ginebra vs. (5) GlobalPort In the final 8 seconds of overtime period of the knockout quarterfinal game between
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and
GlobalPort Batang Pier, review showed that
Stanley Pringle held the ball for over 5 seconds, which would have resulted in a five-second ball-hogging violation, but no call was made. After the final buzzer, the Batang Pier already went to the dugout, but Ginebra stayed behind. Ginebra fans, which were more than half of the crowd, were left stunned along with players and the Ginebra coaching staff. Head coach
Tim Cone immediately went to center court and pleaded with the referees for a call or a review of the final 8-second possession of Globalport. He then went to the scorer's table and signed the official scorecard, signifying the team's intent to file a protest with the game's result. He stayed mum after coming out of the dugout on whether they would actually file a protest. Under the league's rules, Barangay Ginebra had until 12 noon of December 28, 2015, to file a letter of protest together with a bond, which requires a minimum of P20,000. Some fans who waited by the players exit booed and threw coins at the car of GlobalPort forward
Jay Washington, who left the venue with his family. Security struggled to control the mob of angry fans. When the car started to leave, Washington opened the window and shouted, "Better luck next conference!" to the crowd. A day after, Barangay Ginebra did not send a formal protest to the PBA office as the 12 noon deadline lapsed. Commissioner
Chito Narvasa said that the league summoned the four referees of the Ginebra-GlobalPort game, Edward Aquino, Rommel Gruta, Mardy Montoya and Bing Oliva, on December 29 and re-evaluated their performance during the quarterfinal game. According to the findings of the PBA technical committee, two violations were not called: the five-second ball-hogging violation and the backcourt violation committed by
Stanley Pringle. Referees Edward Aquino and Rommel Gruta were therefore suspended for the rest of the Philippine Cup. == Semifinals ==