Juami Tiongson’s return to the Terrafirma Dyip may have been viewed by many as a relegation back to a so-called “farm team,” but five games into his second stint with the franchise, he is already back to playing like he is one of the best players in the PBA.

After being traded by San Miguel, along with rookie Chris Miller, in exchange for Jerrick Ahanmisi and Paolo Hernandez, Tiongson returned to the team where he enjoyed his greatest individual success. It was with Terrafirma that he won the PBA’s Most Improved Player award in 2021, earned Mythical Second Team honors, and became an All-Star in 2024. His time with the Beermen yielded two championships, but it also came with a reduced role as one of the team’s reserve guards.

Now back with the Dyip, Tiongson has quickly reminded everyone why San Miguel pursued him two years ago and what he is capable of when entrusted with a larger role.

Through his first five games back, the 35-year-old guard has averaged 20.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.2 steals, and just 1.2 turnovers in 34.2 minutes per game. More importantly, he has done so with remarkable efficiency, shooting 47.0 percent from the field, 47.1 percent from three-point range, and 85.7 percent from the free-throw line.

The results have been mixed from a team perspective, with Terrafirma winning only two of those five games, but there have been plenty of encouraging signs. After a modest performance in his return, Tiongson quickly found his rhythm and has reestablished himself as one of the Dyip’s most dependable offensive weapons.

His best all-around performance came against his former team, San Miguel, as he finished with 27 points, six rebounds, seven assists, and five three-pointers. He followed that with another stellar outing in Terrafirma’s latest game—a 111-106 overtime victory over the TNT Tropang 5G—where he led all local scorers with 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including 5-of-7 from beyond the arc.

That victory carried significant weight in the standings as well. It lifted Terrafirma to 2-3 in Group A of the 2026 Governor’s Cup, allowing the Dyip to leapfrog TNT, which slipped to 1-2. Terrafirma now sits fourth in the seven-team group, with a top-four finish enough to secure a quarterfinal berth.

Tiongson’s late-game shot-making against the Tropang 5G made all the difference.

The Dyip trailed by six, 104-98, after Roger Pogoy completed a three-point play with 2:28 remaining in overtime. TNT appeared to have seized control, but Tiongson refused to let the game slip away. He buried consecutive three-pointers—first to cut the deficit to three, then another on the next possession to trim it to just two, 106-104. Moments later, with 1:13 remaining, he found Joseph Eriobu for the go-ahead three-pointer that put Terrafirma ahead for good, 107-106.

In the span of just over a minute, Tiongson directly created nine straight Dyip points. He later added a free throw to extend the lead to 111-106, helping seal Terrafirma’s biggest win of the conference so far.

Tiongson’s return to Terrafirma has been nothing short of revitalizing. Rather than viewing the trade as a step backward, he has embraced the opportunity to once again become a featured player. If these first five games are any indication, the Dyip have regained one of the league’s most reliable offensive guards—and Tiongson may have found the perfect place to write another successful chapter of his career.